How Tennessee used regular season blunders to fuel March Madness win vs Virginia

PHILADELPHIA − Maybe all those blown leads in the regular season were good for Tennessee basketball?

While it didn’t surrender a double-digit big lead, Tennessee fans certainly felt pangs of anxiety when Virginia pulled ahead late at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

This time, though, instead of collapsing, the No. 6 Vols (24-11) banded together and pulled off the 79-72 victory over No. 3 Virginia (30-6) in the Men’s NCAA Tournament on March 22.

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes guided the program to its fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance. The road gets tougher for the Vols against No. 2 Iowa State (29-7) at the United Center in Chicago on March 27 (10:10 p.m. ET, TBS).

How did Tennessee avoid a meltdown? Well, Barnes isn’t really sure.

He just knows they won.

“We found a way,” he said. “We found a way to get it done. These guys, they’ve worked hard for us all year and worked hard competing against each other every day.”

Tennessee believe it needed regular season heartbreak

Tennessee largely bottled up Virginia’s leading scorer Thijs De Ridder through much of the game. However, the 23-year-old freshman from Belgium found his rhythm late in the game and drilled a 3-pointer to give the Cavaliers a 71-70 lead with 2:03 remaining.

In the huddle, Tennessee sophomore guard Bishop Boswell knew they’d be fine. He cited increased “poise” gained from months of SEC trials.

“We have been in these situations time in and time out, and I’ve seen us come out on top, so I know how tough we are,” he said. “Being in those situations helps you for times like this. The SEC is so tough, its such a tough league, you’re going to be in a bunch of close games. We were able to come out with some wins, and we were able to come out with some losses that we were able to learn from.

“We’ve been battled-tested.”

Forward J.P. Estrella believes those tests were necessary.

“I don’t think so,” he said if Tennessee would’ve won this game a month ago. “I feel like these past couple months have been huge for us playing some tough games, playing in the SEC Tournament, playing the game the other night. These games are crucial for us. When we keep playing basketball with each other it builds confidence and we keep winning.

“The momentum keeps going and I feel like it’s going to keep on rolling into Chicago.”

Tennessee’s defense papers over late mistakes

The Vols were anything but mistake-free in the closing minutes of the game.

Freshman Nate Ament ran the baseline after a missed shot. Senior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie threw an inbounds pass into the second row. A defensive breakdown left Virginia’s Jacari White wide-open for a 3-pointer with seconds remaining.

It was the defense, though, that kept Tennessee afloat. The Vols kept one of the ACC’s top offenses under its 80.4 points per game average. Their frontcourt physicality bothered Virginia all game.

“I thought we played great,” Estrella said about Tennessee’s frontcourt. “We’re all just some dogs on offense and defense. We got stops when we needed them. I feel like we could’ve gotten a couple rebounds − me in particular, I could’ve grabbed a couple with two hands − but other than that, we were just some dogs tonight and I feel like we need to be that every single night.”

The Cavaliers had 26 points in the paint, but they shot under 50% on layups. Tennessee 6-foot-11 center Felix Okpara registered four blocks and often deterred Virginia players from entering his domain.

“Felix Okpara, that’s the best five-man in the country,” junior Jaylen Carey said about his teammate. “Best shot blocker in the country.”

Okpara credited the entire frontcourt for the standout defensive performance.

“That’s our identity right there,” he said. “That’s Tennessee basketball right there.”

Wynton Jackson covers high school sports for Knox News. Email: wynton.jackson@knoxnews.com

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