DETROIT — Dalton Knecht scored 24 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out five assists, and stole the ball twice as Tennessee moved closer to reaching its first Final Four by defeating Creighton 82-75 in a Midwest Region semifinal on Friday night.
Zakai Zeigler also contributed 18 points and six assists for the second-seeded Volunteers. When Tennessee was eliminated in the regional semifinals last year for the second time in a row, Knecht played for Northern Colorado and Zeigler was recovering from a torn knee ligament.
Coach Rick Barnes’ Vols (27-8) have matched the longest NCAA Tournament run in school history and are aiming to surpass the 2010 team's performance, which lost by one point to Michigan State in the Elite Eight.
Tennessee will compete against top-seeded Purdue for the Midwest Region title and a spot in the elusive Final Four. Purdue defeated Gonzaga earlier on Friday night.
The third-seeded Bluejays (25-10) made it to the Sweet 16 for the third time in four years but fell just short of matching last year's first-ever appearance in the regional final.
Baylor Scheierman, a third-team All-America wing, scored 25 points, and some of his teammates struggled against a long and athletic team that plays tough defense from the perimeter to the basket.
Steven Ashworth finished with 16 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner had 14 for the Bluejays, who put up a strong fight.
Tennessee went on a stunning 18-0 run early in the second half, taking a 55-39 lead, which made Creighton coach Greg McDermott call two timeouts to halt the momentum before a TV stoppage.
Scheierman made a 3-pointer to end the drought and later completed a three-point play during a 9-0 run that brought the Bluejays within three points with 6:04 left.
Knecht scored two crucial 3-pointers to extend the lead to six points, and Zeigler assisted Tobe Awaka for a three-point play that gave the Vols a 71-64 lead with 1:39 remaining.
Tennessee made it past the first weekend of the tournament, narrowly defeating Texas by four points after starting with a dominating win against Saint Peter’s, with Knecht scoring a total of 41 points in those games. The Bluejays advanced to the second weekend of the tournament with a dominant victory over Akron and a double-overtime win over Oregon.
During the Sweet 16, Scheierman scored 15 points in the first half, and his second assist was an alley-oop that Kalkbrenner slammed to put the Bluejays ahead 35-34.
Knecht performed outstandingly during the crucial surge early in the second half.
The 6-foot-6 wing, who transferred from Northern Colorado after playing at Northeastern Junior College, became the first former junior college player to receive All-America recognition since Larry Johnson in 1991.
Knecht scored 10 points in a closely contested first half with eight lead changes, three ties, and neither team leading by more than four points.
The Vols played aggressive defense, marking their opponents closely 40 feet from the basket, and caused a team that averages 10 or more turnovers to lose possession four times in the first five minutes.
Tennessee took advantage of this, scoring eight points off those turnovers.
Coincidentally, both teams did not have much space on the court or on the scoreboard.
