NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Tennessee Volunteers are headed to the sweet 16 of the NCAA men's basketball Tournament after beating Texas 62-58 in the second round.
In the final 8.8 seconds of the game Saturday night, Dalton Knecht made four free-throws — securing the win. He scored a game-high 18 points for Tennessee.
In the first minutes of the game, the Vols were ahead with an 8-4 lead. Texas answered Tennessee's early lead with a 9-2 stretch, almost tying it up at 18-17 in the first 7 minutes. Tennessee then grabbed 10 points in a row, and with only one answered basket from Texas, secured a 29-20 lead after the first half.
In the second half, Tennessee earned a game-best lead of 12 points on a third-chance basket, leading 40-28. In another back-and-forth, Texas scored 14 points to Tennessee's five, making the game 45-42 with a little over seven minutes to go — that's when Tennessee grabbed eight more of ten points for a 53-44 game with just over 4 minutes remaining.
It came down to free throws.
Tennessee's Jonas Aidoo brought Tennessee up to a 3-point lead with 48.8 seconds left — splitting a pair of free throws — but Texas stayed in the game with one more score making it 56-55. With 24 seconds left, Aidoo knocked two free throws, and Knecht hit two, 60-55.
After one more Texas 3-pointer by Tyrese Hunter at 4.2 seconds, making it a 60-58 game, Knecht made two more free-throws at 3.8 seconds and led Tennessee to the win.
Now, the Vols are headed to the sweet 16 with Coach Rick Barnes — they have reached the sweet 16 three out of nine seasons with Barnes, but have never made it past the sweet 16 with him before. They will play No. 3 Creighton on Friday, March 29 in Detroit, Michigan.
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