Tennessee is safely through the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament! Nothing came easy Saturday night, but the Vols will live for another day after getting past Texas.

With the win, Tennessee is into the Sweet 16 after wins against Saint Peter’s and the Longhorns. Now, the Vols will wait to find out their opponent next week from the winner of Saturday night’s matchup between Creighton and Oregon.

Here are the key takeaways from Tennessee’s 62-58 win over Texas:

Rick Barnes is sweet yet again

With the win, Rick Barnes has now led Tennessee to back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances. He has 3 trips to the Sweet 16 in 6 NCAA Tournament appearances for the Vols.

Overall, Tennessee is making its second straight trip into the Sweet 16 since 2007-08 under Bruce Pearl. The Vols have not been back to the Elite 8 since 2010.

Can Tennessee finally carve its way to the Final Four? The first steps in the journey are complete, but this team is built to contend for a title, not just get out of the opening weekend this time around.

Points off turnover loom large

Both teams struggled offensively throughout the first half, but Tennessee did enough to build a 9-point lead at the break. However, Texas’ offense was finally able to show some life in the second half while scoring 39 points in the final 20 minutes of the game.

When it was all said and done, a key factor in Tennessee holding onto the win was points off of turnovers. Both teams struggled with turnovers with Texas committing 17 to Tennessee’s 12, but it was the Vols who were able to capitalize on the miscues.

Tennessee finished the game +10 in points off turnovers (15-to-5), and that was largely the difference in a game with both offenses shooting well below 40%.

Can Vols survive another disastrous shooting performance?

Tennessee got the win. That’s all that matters with every team focusing on “survive and advance” in the Big Dance.

However, it must be pointed out that Tennessee was living very dangerously against the Longhorns.

After shooting just 1-for-13 from deep in the first half, the Vols improved that number in the second half… by going 2-for-12 from 3-point range. Yes, the Vols finished a remarkable 3-for-25 (12%) from 3-point range with Dalton Knecht and Zakai Zeigler combining to shoot 2-for-16 from range.

Things were not much better inside the arc, and Tennessee finished the game shooting below 35% (33.8%) from the field. Knecht did lead all players with 18 points by going 7-for-8 from the free-throw line, but he finished 5-for-18 from the field and just 4-for-10 from inside the arc.

There’s no other way around it: Tennessee cannot survive another game like that at this point in the tournament. The stakes get higher and the teams get tougher at each level of the tournament, and it’s a small miracle their shooting woes did not derail the postseason hopes of the Vols.

Be sure to track the latest March Madness odds via SDS’s Tennessee sportsbooks as the Vols gear up for the Sweet 16 next week.