Tennessee stifles Iowa State late, pulls away to earn berth in Elite 8
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Tennessee accomplished a lot in its late Friday night conquest of Iowa State in the Midwest Region semifinal in Chicago.
The 6th-seeded Volunteers kept their national championship dreams alive, first and foremost, with a riveting performance in the 76-62 upset of the second-seeded Cyclones.
They continued a remarkable little streak that’s increasing with time in busting through to the Elite 8 for the third straight year and fourth time in program history.
In continuing that Elite 8 streak, they kept alive a chance to finally get past the Elite 8 and into the program’s first ever Final Four.
That quest will continue on Sunday afternoon when the Vols try for another mammoth upset against Midwest Region top seed Michigan. The Volunteers and Wolverines will tip things off at about 2:15 p.m. ET on CBS, with a trip to Indianapolis on the line and some of that Final Four history at stake for Tennessee.
But to get to Sunday, the Vols had to win late Friday night, and they took advantage of the absence of Iowa State’s second-leading scorer, Joshua Jefferson, who was sidelined once again with a sprained ankle. He averages 16.4 points per game, as well as 7.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists, so a big piece of the Cyclones was missing in Chicago.
With no Jefferson, the quest for Tennessee (25-11) was made a little easier, and the Vols did something else in forging their way into the Elite 8 once again. They kept the flag flapping for the SEC, which was down to Tennessee after Alabama fell to Michigan, 90-77, in the first Midwest Region semifinal on Friday night.
If the SEC was going to have a team playing in the Elite 8 this weekend, it was going to be Tennessee or bust. So, the Vols kept their season alive and the SEC alive at the same time, taking a 34-33 halftime lead and taking it from there, starting with Nate Ament’s 3-pointer just 21 seconds into the second half.
The Volunteers led the favored Cyclones (29-8) from there, building a comfortable cushion in the final 20 minutes and cruising into yet another Elite 8 under Rick Barnes.
Tennessee tore apart Iowa State’s defense without Jefferson on the floor, shooting 51% from the field. They also tore apart the Cyclones on the boards, outrebounding Iowa State by a whopping 43-22. Felix Okpara had 10 rebounds to go with his 12 points, and Jaylen Carey came off the bench to snatch 10 rebounds himself. Carey added 11 points.
Ament led the way again for the Vols with 18 points and Ja’Kobi Gillespie chipped in 16 points in 36 minutes for the Vols, who won easily despite turning the ball over 17 times on Friday night. Tennessee helped make up for all those turnovers by shooting the ball so well and getting a ton of the rebounds when it did miss.
Meanwhile, Iowa State was stuck in the mud all night, shooting 39% from the field, 22% from 3-point territory and 60% from the free throw line. Points were hard to come by for the Cyclones, especially without Jefferson. Tamin Lipsey and Nate Heise had 18 points each for Iowa State, but Tennessee held everybody else in single digits scoring.
The Cyclones only got 3 points from their bench, as Barnes’ crew put the clamps down on Iowa State for most of the night and especially the second half, holding the Cyclones to just 29 points in the final 20 minutes while Tennessee pulled away toward yet another trip to the Elite 8.
With Tennessee busting its way into the Elite 8, the SEC is still alive in this tournament. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently seeing about the 8 teams left and their chances to get to Indianapolis next week:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
