Tennessee doesn't get cute, pounds Kentucky to advance to Elite Eight
INDIANAPOLIS — Amari Williams described the viral picture of Zakai Zeigler as “cute.” Tennessee’s point guard was caught on camera gesturing to a Kentucky logo at Rupp Arena during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament and Kentucky’s center didn’t take kindly to it.
“It’s cute when you got a team like that that haven’t beat us in how long?” Williams said on Thursday. “You know, you’re going to be mad about that. But we don’t really care about that. They can do whatever but we’ll be ready on the court.”
Kentucky was not ready on the court in the Sweet 16 Friday night at Lucas Oil Stadium. And Tennessee was anything but cute, dismantling the Wildcats from the start in a 78-65 win to advance to the Elite Eight for a second straight year and just the third time in program history.
Vols advance to Elite Eight for second straight season
No. 2 Tennessee (30-7), which will face either No. 1 Houston or No. 4 Purdue in the Midwest Regional Final on Sunday, got 18 points and 10 assists from Zakai Zeigler, Jordan Gainey scored 16 off the bench and Felix Okpara had eight points and 11 rebounds. Chaz Lanier scored 11 of his 17 in the second half.
Start time and broadcast information for Sunday’s Elite Eight game will be announced after Friday’s late games.
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.
The Vols delivered the exclamation point with 8:37 left in the second half. Okpara dunked a Lanier miss, then Lanier deflected and stole the inbound that followed. Zeigler hit a three off the steal, putting the Vols up 17, and stared up at Brandon Garrison after finding himself chest-to-chest with the Kentucky forward.
Tennessee had a point to make after losing 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.
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On Friday night Tennessee led by as many as 19 points during a dominant first half and led 43-28 at halftime, leading for over 17 minutes. The Vols led for over 37 minutes in Round 3 of the rivalry and trailed for just 32 seconds.
Zeigler had 13 points and four assists in the first half, Gainey had seven points off the bench and Okpara had six points and seven rebounds.
Tennessee took control early by dominating rebounding
The grew to 19 with 3:04 left in the first half, when a Jahmai Mashack turnaround jumper made it 39-20. The Vols were firmly in control despite Lanier scoring just six points in the first half, going 2-for-7 from the field and 0-for-3 at the 3-point line.
Tennessee won the rebounding battle 22-13 in the first half and had nine offensive rebounds, leading to 13 second-chance points.
Kentucky made its final three shots of the first half to cut the deficit to 15 at the break. Williams had nine points and Oweh scored seven in the first half.
After Kentucky went 12-for-24 from three in both of its regular-season wins over Tennessee, the Vols held the Wildcats to 3-for-9 shooting from three in the first half.
