South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Vols flex muscles to bully Devils
ORLANDO — Olivier Nkamhoua tied his career high with 27 points, including 13 straight for Tennessee during a decisive span in the second half, and the fourthseeded 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 first-year coach Jon Scheyer — charged with replacing Mike Krzyzewski — home after just two NCAA Tournament games. Not sure Coach K could have done anything different to combat these Vols, 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 Vols fans to start chanting and sent Duke fans scrambling for the the exits.
Tennessee advanced to face Florida Atlantic or 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.
Vols 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 had even more issues, pickup up his fourth foul with 15 minutes remaining and finishing 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.”