Vols avoid meltdown, win in OT
SOUTH REGIONAL TENNESSEE 83, IOWA 77, OT
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Admiral Schofield ran around the court in sheer joy, waving a March Madness towel after Tennessee made it back to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2016.
The rest of the Volunteers? Just trying to breathe normally again.
Tennessee avoided one of the biggest meltdowns in NCAA Tournament history Sunday, letting a 25-point lead slip away before SEC player of the year Grant Williams asserted himself in overtime for an 83-77 victory over Iowa.
None of the Volunteers (31-5) saw that coming, not after they’d raced ahead 4419 in a sizzling first half they dominated every which way.
The biggest NCAA Tournament comeback? Brigham Young’s 25-point rally past Iona in the First Four in 2012.
“The way we started the game, that’s the team we win [with],” said Schofield, who had 17 of his 19 points in the opening half. “The way we finished the game, we can’t have that.”
Tenth-seeded Iowa (2312) nearly pulled off another historic comeback, sending it into overtime tied at 71 — the first overtime game in this year’s tournament. The last time the teams played also was in the NCAA Tournament, with Tennessee rallying from a 12-point deficit to a 78-65 overtime victory in the First Four at Dayton in 2014.
The Vols’ best player made sure they wouldn’t be on the wrong end of the big comeback this time.
“Grant Williams hit some big shots,” Iowa forward Luka Garza said. “He’s a bigtime player. And we defended him well.”
Williams had a pair of free throws, two jumpers, and a strip in overtime that helped the Vols pull it out and match their school record for wins in a season. He finished with 19 points and seven rebounds.
“I feel like a fifth grader who just ate Skittles,” Williams said, summing up the finish.
Jordan Bohannon scored 18 for Iowa, which never led but managed to tie it twice after falling so far behind.
“They were No. 1 for a very long time this year for a reason,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffrey said. “It’s not often that you get down 25, come back and tie it. So very pleased with the effort and concentration and execution of our guys to a man.”
Last year, the Volunteers lost to Loyola-Chicago in the second round. They followed it with a record season — ranked No. 1 for four weeks, a school-record 19game winning streak, a full season in the Top 10 — and had just enough in overtime Sunday to keep it going.
Fourth-year Coach Rick Barnes got doused with water in the locker room afterward.
“My suit got soaked,” Barnes said. “I got soaked. And when my hair gets wet, it don’t look too good.”
Iowa is 30-28 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Since their last Sweet 16 appearance, the Hawkeyes have failed to make it past the first weekend six times.
Tennessee is 22-22 alltime. In the tournament’s expanded format, the Vols also reached the Sweet 16 in 2000, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2014.
Tennessee became the fourth SEC team in the Sweet 16, tying the conference record. Auburn, Kentucky and LSU also made it.
VIRGINIA 63, OKLAHOMA 51
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Virginia finally breezed through an NCAA Tournament game and beat Oklahoma to advance to the Sweet 16.
Mamadi Diakite scored 14 points and had nine rebounds as the No. 1 seeded Cavaliers led for all but three minutes against Oklahoma.
The game was a marked improvement for Virginia, which last season became the first overall No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16. The Cavaliers (31-3) didn’t have it any easier in this year’s NCAA opener and trailed by as many as 14 to No. 16 Gardner-Webb before rallying for the first-round victory.
There was only one scare in the second-round matchup and it was rather mild: Virginia scored the first seven points of the game, but Oklahoma (2014) answered with a 13-2 run to take its only lead.
Virginia cranked up its trademark stifling defense and the Sooners hit just four of their last 18 shots in the first half to fall behind 31-22 at the break. After a Kihel Clark rebound and putback on the first possession of the second half, Virginia’s lead never dipped below 10 points again.
OREGON 73, CALIFORNIA-IRVINE 54
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Ehab Amin sparked Oregon out of a long drought to start the second half and the Ducks became the lone double-digit seed to advance to the Sweet 16 by beating California-Irvine.
Payton Pritchard led 12th-seeded Oregon (25-12) with 18 points, Louis King added 16 and Amin had 12 points and 3 steals. The Ducks have won 10 consecutive after a lackluster start to the season and will play top-seeded Virginia on Thursday.
After going more than seven minutes without scoring to start the second half and squandering a 12-point lead, Oregon used a 15-3 run to take control and end a 17-game winning streak for the 13th-seeded Anteaters (31-6).
Amin started it with a three-pointer and caused two turnovers. Pritchard scored seven points in the spurt, and the game quickly turned into a laugher with Kenny Wooten getting a block on one end and an alley-oop on the other to make it 68-49 with just more than two minutes to play.
Robert Cartwright scored 14 points and Evan Leonard added 11 for UC Irvine.