CHICAGO (AP) — Nate Ament scored 18 points, Ja’Kobi Gillespie finished with 16 and Tennessee beat Iowa State 76-62 on Friday night to advance to the Elite Eight for the third straight year.
Coach Rick Barnes’ team used a dominant effort on the glass and a strong second half to put away Iowa State (29-8) and move within one win of its first Final Four.
The sixth-seeded Volunteers (25-11) will meet top-seeded Michigan in the Midwest Region final on Sunday. The Wolverines beat Alabama 90-77 behind a dominant all-around performance by Yaxel Lendeborg.
Ament made three 3-pointers. Felix Okpara chipped in with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jaylen Carey added 11 points and 10 boards, and the Volunteers outrebounded the Cyclones 43-22.
Nate Heise and Tamin Lipsey each scored 18 points for Iowa State, but the Cyclones clearly struggled without injured star Joshua Jefferson.
The All-America forward was hurt minutes into the Cyclones’ March Madness opener against Tennessee State and did not play in their lopsided win over Kentucky. He averaged 16.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
Tennessee led 34-33 at halftime after Okpara hit two free throws in the closing seconds and Lipsey missed a driving layup at the buzzer.
The Volunteers were up 44-39 when they went on a 13-4 run that Carey punctuated with a three-point play off a tip-in. The 6-foot-8, 267-pound forward turned toward the roaring Vols fans and flexed before hitting the free throw to make it 57-43 with 11:47 remaining.
