Nkamhoua gets hot in second half to fuel Tennessee
Forward scores 13 in a row after halftime as Volunteers reach first Sweet 16 since 2019.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Olivier Nkamhoua tied his career high with 27 points, including 13 consecutive for Tennessee during a decisive span in the second half, and the fourth-seeded Volunteers beat Duke 65-52 on Saturday to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.
Santiago Vescovi added 14 points and five assists for Tennessee (25-10), which ended Duke’s 10-game winning streak and sent firstyear coach Jon Scheyer — charged with replacing Mike Krzyzewski — home after just two NCAA tournament games. Not sure Krzyzewski could have done anything different to combat the Volunteers, who used a brand of “bully ball” to send the fifthseeded Blue Devils (27-9) packing.
“We want to be physical,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “We feel we’re at our best when we can do that.”
Nkamhoua made 10 of 13 shots and put an exclamation mark on Tennessee’s victory with an emphatic slam with 1:15 remaining. It prompted Volunteers fans to start chanting.
Tennessee advanced to face No. 9-seed Florida Atlantic or 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Duke didn’t handle Tennessee’s imposing style very well all afternoon. The Volunteers set the tone early, clearly wanting to push around Kyle Filipowski and get their hands in the faces of guards Jeremy Roach and Tyrese Proctor.
Tennessee big man Uros Plavsic picked up two offensive fouls in the first four minutes, both going against Filipowski. Duke’s 7-footer later took an elbow to his face and ended up with a small cut under his left eye.
Proctor struggled to inbound the ball several times, getting a five-second call, turning it over once and nearly giving it up again. Roach picked up his fourth foul with 15 minutes remaining and finished with five turnovers.
“We're always ready for a dogfight,” Nkamhoua said. “When we get people playing our game, that's an advantage for us.”
It also helped that the Volunteers took much better care of the ball than they did in their first-round victory against Louisiana-Lafayette. They turned it over just nine times, half as many as they did Thursday and their fewest since point guard Zakai Zeigler suffered a season-ending knee injury last month.