PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Bishop Boswell are roommates on the road and the Tennessee standouts suggested they spend almost every moment — from the practice court to the weight room to social activities — together.
“We can’t get enough of each other,” Gillespie said.
How does another March Madness weekend as roomies sound?
Gillespie scored 21 points, Boswell and Nate Ament 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.
“They fought through a lot of things that maybe we didn’t have to,” coach Rick Barnes said, “but they found a way to fight through it.”
The Vols (24-11) will face No. 2 seed Iowa State 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 the 71-year-old 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.
“I know how talented he is,” Boswell said. “Any time I attack the gap and I see him open, I’m betting it’s going in.”
Even from long, long range.
Against No. 3 seed Virginia, Gilespie 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.
“I was definitely lucky,” Gilespie said of the 3.
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 Hall 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.
Although it was tough to tell for sure on the slow-motion replay, Hall conceded he knocked the ball out of bounds.
“I knew it hit me, barely,” he said. “Unfortunately, it worked out the way it did. It was a super-fast play, but there was a lot of opportunities, and it never comes down to the one play.”
Ament, a gifted 6-foot-10 freshman who was scoreless in the first round, scored 16 points. Boswell hit four 3-pointers and had 13 points and nine assists.
The Cavaliers lost in the first round or the First Four in 2021, 2023 and 2024, and title-winning coach Tony Bennett abruptly retired before last season. Ryan Odom took over this season and quickly turned the program around.
White followed up his 26-point effort in the opener against Wright State with just 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting.
“Lot of tears in there,” Odom said. “Lot of gratitude. You just have to put things in their proper perspective, which is not easy to do in moments like that.”
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.
— Associated Press —
