PHILADELPHIA — Tennessee may be known for its defense, but a balanced and efficient offense has led the Volunteers to their fourth straight Sweet 16.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie put up 21 points and six assists, Bishop Boswell had 13 points and nine assists and the sixth-seeded Volunteers took down third-seeded Virginia 79-72 on Sunday in a second-round NCAA Tournament matchup.
Tennessee (24-11), which will meet No. 2 seed Iowa State in the Midwest Region semifinals, also got 16 points from freshman Nate Ament after he played 18 scoreless minutes in the first round while working through an ankle sprain. Ament scored 13 in the second half, overcoming a few critical mistakes.
J.P. Estrella and Jaylen Carey scored 10 apiece for the Volunteers, who pleased coach Rick Barnes with their ball movement.
“I like it when I look down and see that we’ve got 20 assists. I like that. On 26 made baskets,” Barnes said. “I like to see us sharing the ball and I love teams that are balanced. When we have a guy that can go, you have seen us do it through the years with a bunch of guys. We play their strengths but we love balance.”
Belgian freshman Thijs De Ridder powered Virginia’s comeback with 17 of his 22 points in the second half. Malik Thomas added 12 and Jacari White and Chance Mallory had 10 apiece.
The Cavaliers (30-6) shot a meager 34.4% in the first half, missing eight of 11 layups, but turned it around in time for a second-half charge.
Tennessee led 36-31 at halftime and expanded it to as many as nine points. Gillespie heaved a long 3-pointer to beat the shot-clock buzzer, and after De Ridder responded with a quick layup, Estrella’s fastbreak dunk made it 62-53 with 9:15 to go.
But the Cavaliers were in the midst of a 7-for-7 shooting run, with Johann Grunloh’s dunk past Ament cutting the deficit to two. De Ridder tied it twice for Virginia, the second time at 68-68 on a layup after Ament tried to run the baseline when he couldn’t and turned it over.
Virginia capitalized on another mistake when Ament couldn’t corral Gillespie’s inbounds pass and it sailed to the bench. De Ridder’s ensuing 3 gave the Cavaliers their first lead of the half, 71-70, at 2:03.
But that was the last field goal Tennessee would allow. Ament put the Vols ahead for good from the line, as Tennessee scored its last nine points on free throws.
In the early going, White tied the game at 14 and then broke that tie on consecutive 3-pointers. Virginia led by four when Tennessee launched a 12-0 run with a pair of layups by Jaylen Carey.
Gillespie and Boswell knocked down treys and DeWayne Brown II set up Felix Okpara for an alley-oop dunk to make it 28-20 with 6:34 left in the half.
Gillespie and Boswell showed off their backcourt chemistry by combining for nine assists on Tennessee’s 15 first-half field goals.
“I think we just trust each other and really like playing with each other. We’re also roommates on the road, so we can’t get enough of each other,” Gillespie said to some laughter. “So, yeah, I feel like we’re just really locked in together.”
Okpara contributed seven points, eight rebounds and four blocks while playing stellar defense for Tennessee.
Virginia doubled its win total from a year ago in Ryan Odom’s first season in charge of a team largely built through the transfer portal.
“We had two goals at the beginning of this year when a bunch of guys, myself included, took a chance on a new staff and a new situation, new school,” said Dallin Hall, who posted seven points, seven rebounds and seven assists. “And our two goals were to really connect with UVA as an institution and really connect with one another as a team. We did a really good job with that, I think.”
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
