Two games took place last night in the Midwest Region in Indianapolis, with Tennessee and Houston advancing to the Elite Eight. The teams will face off at 2:20 p.m. ET Sunday on CBS.
While the nightcap featured one of the best inbounds plays of the tournament — securing Houston’s 62-60 win over Purdue — the all-SEC matchup between Kentucky and Tennessee earlier in the evening was highlighted by former mid-major standouts. The Volunteers emerged victorious, 78-65.
One of the toughest feats in college basketball is beating a team three times in one season, which is what Kentucky aimed to do against Tennessee.
But from start to finish, the team from Knoxville silenced a large turnout of Big Blue Nation fans, who made the two-and-a-half-hour trip from Lexington.
North Florida transfer and Dalton Knecht’s successor, Chaz Lanier, scored 17 points to help lead Tennessee to its first back-to-back Elite Eight appearance.
Alongside Lanier, former South Carolina Upstate transfer Jordan Gainey added 16 points to fuel the Vols’ victory.
“We had a chip on our shoulder, and we went out there and proved it,” Gainey said in the postgame press conference. “We played good team basketball and just had fun out there.”
On the losing side, former San Diego State guard Lamont Butler played his final collegiate game, scoring 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
For Kentucky, the offseason begins with a focus on retooling through the transfer portal. Meanwhile, Tennessee will aim for its first Final Four appearance in program history with a win over Houston on Sunday.
