Moving on.
The Tennessee Volunteers are headed to the Sweet 16 once again. The No. 2 seed in the Midwest took down 7-seed UCLA on Saturday night in Lexington, flexing late in the first half to get separation.
Tennessee put together an 11-0 run through the halftime break. Three straight three-pointers shortly after would give the Volunteers complete control. Chaz Lanier stayed hot from deep, connecting on four of his five attempts on the night.
Lanier would break the single season Tennessee record for three-pointers made in the second half.
As suspected coming into this one, Tennessee held a big advantage on the boards. That held true, with the Volunteers winning the rebounding battle 36-26. Tennessee shot 42 percent from the field, but hit on 50 percent (11-22) of their three pointers.
Lanier led the way with 20 points. Zakai Zeigler added 15 points, six assists and three steals.
Tennessee moves forward, set to travel to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for their next matchup.
can confirm that Coach Barnes now knows where we’ll play our next game#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/tbDKMJRS6r
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) March 23, 2025
That sequence just before halftime really seemed to be the difference. A tight game suddenly turned into a seven point lead, and Tennessee controlled the game the rest of the way.
“We went into the locker room with a lot of energy,” Zeigler said after the game. “Because we knew it was going to be a dogfight going into the game, you knew it was going to be a lot of ups and downs, but the last couple of minutes in the first half we had a lot of energy. Getting turnovers and those loud plays, it really picked us up. Going into the locker room we had a lot of energy.”
Tennessee moves on to its third straight Sweet 16. For Rick Barnes, it will be his tenth Sweet 16 appearance of his career. Barnes notched his 32nd career win in the NCAA Tournament, which is good for sixth among active head coaches.
The Volunteers now await the winner of Kentucky-Illinois. Tennessee went to Illinois and won during the non-conference slate, but dropped both meetings against Kentucky.
Kentucky and Illinois tip-off at 5:15 p.m. ET on Sunday on CBS.