ORLANDO, Fla. – A career-high-tying 27 factors from Olivier Nkamhoua and a suffocating defensive efficiency led fourth-seeded Tennessee Saturday, because the Vols clinching the ninth Candy Sixteen look in program historical past with a 65-52 win over No. 5 seed Duke.

With the win, Tennessee (25-10) advances to the NCAA Match’s Candy Sixteen for the primary time since 2019. The Vols will face both Florida Atlantic or Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday in New York Metropolis’s Madison Sq. Backyard. Tip off time is but to be introduced.

Nkamhoua’s 27 points-23 of which got here within the second half-tie his career-high set on Jan. 28 towards Texas and got here on 10-of-13 taking pictures from the sphere, together with 3-of-4 from 3-point vary. From the 8:43 mark to the 4:16 mark of the second half, Nkamhoua scored 13 straight factors for the Vols. In complete, he scored 17 of Tennessee’s remaining 19 factors.

Santiago Vescovi was Tennessee’s second-most productive scorer, pouring in 14 factors with 4 made 3-pointers and likewise racking up 5 assists and 5 rebounds.

Jonas Aidoo additionally made an impression with an all-around performance-notching eight factors, 5 rebounds and three blocks.

Tennessee’s smothering defensive efficiency was evident on the scoreboard, as Duke’s 52 factors weren’t solely a season-low for the Blue Devils, however tied for the fewest in an NCAA Match sport in this system’s storied historical past. The Vols compelled Duke to commit 15 turnovers.

After holding a six-point lead at halftime, Tennessee prolonged its result in 9 factors early on within the second half due to a pair of 3-pointers from Josiah-Jordan James and Nkamhoua, however Duke was fast to battle back-cutting the Vols’ lead down to simply two factors with 15:40 to go after a fast 7-0 run.

For the primary of a number of instances within the second half, the Vols responded with a fast spurt of their very own to keep up distance from the Blue Devils-outscoring Duke 11-4 over the subsequent 4 minutes of sport time to drag again in entrance by 9 with 11:54 remaining, 44-35.

Instantly following Tennessee’s run, Duke responded with a run of their own-cutting Tennessee’s lead again down to simply 4 with 9:10 to go, 46-42.

Then entered Nkamhoua, who throughout a 13-6 Tennessee run scored all 13 of the Vols’ factors to place Tennessee in management for good-up 11 with 4:16 to go.

With the win all however secured with simply over a minute to play, Nkamhoua put the exclamation level on his efficiency and Tennessee’s win with a putback slam with 1:15 to go.

Tennessee’s defensive depth additionally set the tone for the whole thing of the primary half, because the Vols took a 27-21 lead into the halftime break. Duke’s 21 first-half factors had been tied for his or her fewest in any half this season.

Following a tightly-contested opening seven minutes, Duke created some separation with a 9-0 run to drag in entrance by six at 19-13 with 8:05 to go within the first half.

Tennessee nonetheless responded to its largest deficit of the half by closing the opening interval on a 14-2 run over the ultimate 7:49. Of the Vols’ 14 factors through the spurt, 11 got here from the duo of Vescovi and Aidoo, who every had a team-high eight factors within the first half.

UP NEXT:

Tennessee advances to the Candy Sixteen and can face both Florida Atlantic or Fairleigh Dickinson on Thursday in New York Metropolis’s Madison Sq. Backyard. Tip off time is but to be introduced.

SWEET SIXTEEN VOLS:

Saturday’s win gave Tennessee its ninth Candy Sixteen look in program historical past and first since 2019. The Vols have beforehand competed within the Spherical of 16 in 1967, 1981, 2000, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2019.

TENNESSEE CLASSIC UNIFORMS STAY UNBEATEN:

For the sixth time this season, the Vols sported their “Tennessee Traditional” uniforms and improved to 6-0 whereas doing so. The Massive Orange additionally wore the Tennessee Traditional uniforms in wins over No. 10 Texas, No. 1 Alabama, Arkansas, within the SEC Match towards Ole Miss and within the first spherical of the NCAA Match towards Louisiana.