CHICAGO (AP) — Getting to the Elite Eight is becoming an annual event for Tennessee. This time, the Volunteers hope to go another round or two.
Nate Ament scored 18 points, Ja’Kobi Gillespie finished with 16 and Tennessee beat Iowa State 76-62 on Friday night to advance to the regional finals for the third straight year.
Tennessee used a dominant effort on the glass and a strong second half to put away Iowa State (29-8) to advance to its third regional final in coach Rick Barnes’ 11 seasons. The Volunteers lost to Houston last year and to Purdue in 2024. Tennessee’s only other Elite Eight was under Bruce Pearl in 2010.
“We do have a standard on a lot of things, not just what we do on the basketball court,” Barnes said. “We’re pretty much a no-nonsense program. We talk about that through the recruiting process. We tell everyone it’s going to be tough. We want them to come. We want them to come, and really help them live their dreams. We’d like them to have a chance to play for a national championship.”
Barnes led Texas to a Final Four in 2003. But Tennessee has never been there.
The sixth-seeded Volunteers (25-11) have another big obstacle in their way, with top-seeded Michigan in the Midwest Region final on Sunday. The Wolverines beat Alabama 90-77 behind a dominant all-around performance by Yaxel Lendeborg.
Ament made three 3-pointers. Felix Okpara chipped in with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jaylen Carey added 11 points and 10 boards, and the Volunteers outrebounded the Cyclones 43-22.
“I’m just enjoying the process, being able to do it with these guys,” Okpara said. “We put in so much work in the summer. We love to see it pay off.”
Missing Jefferson
Nate Heise and Tamin Lipsey each scored 18 points for Iowa State, but the Cyclones clearly struggled without injured star Joshua Jefferson.
The All-America forward was hurt minutes into the Cyclones’ March Madness opener against Tennessee State and did not play in their lopsided win over Kentucky. He averaged 16.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
“Just a really tough circumstance to deal with,” coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “We just wanted to make sure that Joshua felt supported and we did everything in our power to get him ready to be out there playing. It just wasn’t enough. He did all he could. He’s a fierce competitor. He couldn’t have done more treatments.”
Vols take control
Tennessee led 34-33 at halftime after Okpara hit two free throws in the closing seconds and Lipsey missed a driving layup at the buzzer.
The Volunteers were up 44-39 when they went on a 13-4 run that Carey punctuated with a three-point play off a tip-in. The 6-foot-8, 267-pound forward turned toward the roaring Vols fans and flexed before hitting the free throw to make it 57-43 with 11:47 remaining.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
