It’s March Madness but there’s a whole lot of chalk in the Midwest Region so far. Two-seed Tennessee advanced to the Sweet 16 on Saturday and they now know its opponent.
The Vols will face three-seed Creighton after the Blue Jays defeated 11-seed Oregon 86-73 in double overtime in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
Creighton rolled past 14-seed Akron in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament before pulling off a thrilling victory against Oregon and its former coach Dana Altman in the Round of 32.
The Blue Jays have a three-headed monster on the offensive end with Trey Alexander, Baylor Scheierman and Ryan Kalkbrenner all averaging over 17 points per game. Creighton advances to the Sweet 16 for the third time in four seasons and advanced to the Elite Eight a season ago.
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Tennessee basketball is back in the Sweet 16 for the second straight season after outlasting Texas 62-58 on Saturday night in Charlotte. The Vols were dreadful from the perimeter, making just three-of-25 three-point attempts against the Longhorns.
But the Vols leaned on their defense and dominated the glass while Tobe Awaka and Josiah-Jordan James each were efficient and made big baskets for Tennessee to outlast the Longhorns.
Five-seed Gonzaga is on the other side of the bracket and a potential Elite Eight opponent after the Bulldogs blew out Kansas on Saturday afternoon. No. 1-seed Purdue will face Utah State tomorrow for the chance to advance to the Sweet 16 to round out the Midwest Region.
The two teams will meet on Friday in Detroit but the tipoff time and broadcast details for the matchup has yet to be announced.
