3 takeaways from Tennessee's big win over Creighton in the Sweet 16

Tennessee is now 1 win away from its first Final Four in program history.

The Vols defeated Creighton 82-75 on Friday night in the Sweet 16, punching their ticket to the Elite Eight in the process. The Vols will now prepare to face a red-hot Purdue team with a berth in the Final Four on the line.

Here are 3 takeaways from Tennessee’s win:

Dalton Knecht led the way, again

As he often has this season, Dalton Knecht led Tennessee in scoring with 24 points in the win over the Blue Jays. He also contributed 6 rebounds and 5 assists in the win.

However, Tennessee’s All-American did have a lot of help offensively. Knecht, Zakai Zeigler and Josiah-Jordan James all drained a trio of 3-pointers in this win. Zeigler poured in 18 points, which was his highest output of the NCAA Tournament so far. James got to 17 points for the first time since Feb. 3.

As a team, Tennessee shot 45.8% from 3-point range. Jordan Gainey and Cameron Carr also made 3-point shots off the bench for Tennessee.

The Vols’ defense was solid

Creighton came into this game with a top-10 offense nationally according to KenPom. The Vols held the Bluejays to just a 44.8% field goal percentage, which is well below their season average.

If not for a streaky shooting night where Creighton made 11-of-23 attempts from long range, this game would not have been nearly as close as the final score makes it appear. Steven Ashworth and Baylor Scheierman, who both made less than 38% of their 3-point attempts this season, combined to go 8-of-15 from long-range against the Vols.

Besides that duo, Creighton was able to inflict very little damage offensively. Trey Alexander went just 3-of-12 from the field. Ryan Kalkbrenner was limited to 14 points on 12 shots. Outside of Ashworth, Scheierman, Alexander and Kalkbrenner, the rest of the Bluejays combined to score just 7 points.

Tennessee has a chance to make history, but it won’t be easy

Tennessee will now prepare for a matchup against Purdue in the Elite Eight. The Boilermakers beat Gonzaga 80-68 earlier in the night and have cruised to 3 double-digit victories so far during the NCAA Tournament.

Tennessee is very familiar with how difficult Zach Edey and the Boilermakers can be to deal with. The Vols faced Purdue back in November and lost 71-67. Edey scored 23 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and made 17 trips to the charity stripe in that narrow win over Tennessee.

There’s plenty on the line for both programs. The Vols have never made the Final Four in program history. Purdue has made 2 previous trips to the Final Four, but never since 1980. The Boilermakers are also still fighting to redeem themselves after their historic loss as a No. 1 seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

A start time for Purdue-Tennessee will be determined at a later date. According to the latest line set by Bet365, Purdue has opened as a 3-point favorite over the Vols. Fans who want to bet on the game can go here to learn about the best Tennessee betting apps to download.