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Start time, TV announced for No. 2 Tennessee's game in the Elite Eight on Sunday

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•03/28/25•

GrantRamey

Tennessee Basketball | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
(Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images) Tennessee players walk to the bench together as officials take a look at a play during a NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game between Tennessee and Kentucky at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., on Thursday, March 27, 2024.

INDIANAPOLIS — No. 2 Tennessee’s Elite Eight game against No. 1 Houston on Sunday afternoon will be a 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time start and will be televised by CBS. 

Tennessee advanced to the Elite Eight for a second straight season and just the third time in program history with a dominant 78-65 win over No. 3 Kentucky Friday night at Lucas Oil Stadium. Houston advanced with a 62-60 win over No. 4 Purdue.

Tennessee (30-7), reaching 30 wins for just a third time, got 18 points and nine assists from Zakai Zeigler in the win over the rival Wildcats. Jordan Gaineyscored 16 off the bench and Felix Okpara had eight points and 11 rebounds. Chaz Lanier scored 11 of his 17 in the second half.

Vols led Kentucky by as many as 19 points during dominant first half

“Just blessed having these guys every day,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said after the win, “how hard they work and I’m jus t… thank God the fact that I get to spend another day with them.”

No. 3 Kentucky (24-12), which swept the Vols during the regular season and had won three straight in the series, got 18 from Lamont Butler and 14 from Amari Williams.

Tennessee went to the Elite Eight last year before losing to No. 1 Purdue in the Midwest Region final, after beating No. 15 Saint Peter’s, No. 7 Texas and No. 3 Creighton along the way.

The Vols this season went through No. 15 Wofford and No. 7 UCLA in the first weekend of the tournament, played at Rupp Arena in Lexington, before rolling past No. 3 Kentucky.

Zakai Zeigler: Vols played ‘Tennessee Basketball’ to get back to second straight Elite Eight

Tennessee lost to Kentucky 78-73 at Food City Center on January 28 and 75-64 at Rupp Arena on February 11. The Vols never led by more than three points in either game, trailed for more than 70 minutes and led for less than four minutes. 

Kentucky shot 50% from the field in both regular-season wins over Tennessee and shot 12-for-24 from the 3-point line both times. The Wildcats were held to 3-for-15 from the 3-point line Friday night.

“We really wanted to set the tone and show them who we were,” Zeigler said afterward. “The first two times we played them at their place and our place. We knew regardless of what happened, we were going to go out and play Tennessee Basketball on the offensive and defensive end, and I feel like we did that great tonight.”

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