COLUMBUS, Oh. (WTVF) — Tennessee’s second round NCAA Tournament game against no. 10 Iowa was a microcosm of the entire season wrapped up into 45 minutes of a must-win March basketball game.
It was pretty, then ugly and then full of guts as no. 2 Tennessee got it done 83-77 in overtime to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in five years.
“These guys wanted to get back to this point and see if they could go further,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said, wear a baseball hat over hair soaked by a water bath in the locker room minutes earlier. “They got it done and I’m happy for them.”
There was the fast start. Two quick threes from Admiral Schofield, who picked up where he left off at the end of Tennessee’s round one win, as the Vols raced past Iowa and the first media timeout putting up 20 points in the game’s first 5:32.
Schofield scored 17 of his 19 in the first half as Tennessee shot 51 percent while looking like the team ranked number one in the country for a month this season while building a 25 point lead.
“The Vol team we saw in the first half is the team that won 31 games,” Schofield said. “We can dominate games. We just have to do that for 40 minutes and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Then came the lapses reminiscent of the ones that cost Tennessee a chance to share the SEC regular season title and win the tournament a week ago. Schofield and fellow star Grant Williams got in foul trouble, and the Vols turned the ball over 10 times while scoring just 22 points in the second half.
Iowa roared back, erasing what had seemed like an insurmountable deficit, to tie it at 67 thanks to three free throws following one of the worst foul calls in NCAA Tournament history as Lamonte Turner cleanly blocked a Jordan Bohanon three. Then again at 71 to force overtime.
“We were just like, ‘hey, it’s a game now, we got to play. You got to love these moments,’” Williams said. “And as a competitor, I wouldn’t want it any other way. For the fans, maybe it’s more nerve-racking, but it’s better to win like this. The feeling is elating.”
But this veteran Tennessee team regrouped and went to what worked in overtime, mainly pounding the ball to Williams. The two-time SEC Player of the Year looked the part, scoring six quick points and assisting on a Jordan Bone three as the when the Vols dug deep to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16.
“He’s a special player,” fellow big man Kyle Alexander said of Williams. “He’s craft, he’s smart, he’s unselfish and that’s why he’s the two-time SEC Player of the Year.”
Williams matched Schofield’s team-high with 19 points and combined with Turner to score 19 of the Vols’ final 28 points down the stretch and in overtime to win.
From beautiful to ugly and finally to the winner’s circle, it was a fitting breakthrough for a Tennessee team that hasn’t made things easy on itself this year, but now becomes just the eighth team in school history to dance amongst the nation’s final 16 teams.
“You never want it to be easy,” Alexander said. “Especially when you’ve worked so hard. You want a little bit of a fight and they definitely gave it to us. It’s fitting (for this team), and it feels so good. I just love these guys and don’t want this to end.”
Tennessee avoids what would have been another devastating season-ending loss after last year’s last second upset loss to no. 11 seed Loyola (Chicago). But the Vols were not to be denied this time.
A date with no. 3 seed Purdue awaits Thursday night in a South Region semifinal in Louisville.
“It means a lot,” said Bone of reaching the Sweet 16 “But we’ve got to move on, put it behind us and get ready for (the Boilermakers).”
Some Tennessee players admitted it was a feeling or relief as much as excitement to finally reach the second weekend of the tournament.
But not Williams. It was a moment of pure joy for the junior star.
“I feel like a fifth grader who just ate skittles,” Williams said. “Running around the room saying he’s Superman with a cape on his back. I’m ready to go.”
Just like he was in overtime when he saved the day and the Vols saved their season.
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