Tennessee reaches its 4th straight Sweet 16, beating Virginia

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ja'Kobi Gillespie scored 21 points, Nate Ament and Bishop Boswell made critical free throws down the stretch and sixth-seeded Tennessee advanced to its fourth straight Sweet 16, beating Virginia 79-72 in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. The Vols (24-11) will face No. 2 seed Iowa in a Midwest Region semifinal in Chicago on Friday night. A year after he helped Maryland reach the Sweet 16, Gillespie led the way for the Vols. Tennessee has been a consistent first-weekend winner under coach Rick Barnes, who has yet to lead the school to the Final Four. Gillespie had 50 points in two games in Philly — he scored 29 against Miami (Ohio) in the first round. Against No. 3 seed Virginia, he made the shot of the game on a desperation 3-point heave as the shot clock expired and followed that with a tremendous lob pass for an alley-oop to J.P. Estrella for a 62-53 lead. Yet Virginia — coming off its first NCAA Tournament win since its 2019 national championship — pushed the Vols to the limit over the final minutes. The Cavaliers (30-6) trailed by two points and seemingly wasted an opportunity when Jacari White shot two airballs on the same possession to give the Vols the ball with 2:12 left. No worries. The Vols threw away the inbound pass and Virginia had a chance to make some happy March memories. Dallin Hall drove the lane and kicked the ball out to an open Thijs De Ridder for a 3 that put the Cavaliers ahead 71-70 with 2:03 left. De Ridder led Virginia with 22 points. This lead wouldn't last — no last-shot heroics necessary. Ament hit two free throws for a 72-71 lead and Boswell made 1 of 2. Again, White had a shot at tying the game, only the miss a layup and have the ball go off Virginia as it bounced out of bounds. After a review that upheld the original call, Tennessee had possession, and Gillespie made six free throws in the final 30 seconds as the Vols celebrated yet another trip to the tournament's second weekend. Ament, a gifted 6-foot-10 freshman who was scoreless in the first round, scored 16 points. Boswell had 13. Up next The Cyclones beat Tennessee in 1969 but they've lost their last two against the Volunteers, the first during a tournament in December 1977 and the most recent on Jan. 27, 2018, during the Big 12-SEC Challenge. ___ AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness