BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Two teams that made the Sweet Sixteen last season — and probably didn’t deserve to see each other until the Sweet Sixteen this season — battled Sunday just to get past the second round.
Butler bulled back from double-digit deficits in both halves before falling to Tennessee, 76-71 in overtime, in a memorable March match at the BJCC Arena.
The first ever second-round NCAA tournament game between two 30-win teams lived up to its billing, as the Volunteers finally put Butler away on two JaJuan Smith free throws with less than four seconds left in the extra period.
“Butler deserved better, just like we deserved better,” UT sophomore forward Wayne Chism said. “We shouldn’t have played them so soon, but we did, and we won, and we’re moving on.
“Hats off to them, though. They’re a great team.”
Second-seeded Tennessee (31-4) qualified for its second consecutive Sweet Sixteen berth, while the seventh-seeded Bulldogs (30-4) saw a second consecutive season end in narrow defeat to a Southeastern Conference champion. Eventual national champion Florida edged them to make the Elite Eight last season.
As tough as Sunday was, though, Thursday should be even tougher for the Vols. Louisville — a Big East powerhouse with a formidable frontcourt and deep stable of Rick Pitino-recruited athletes — is certainly capable of winning a national championship.
UT-Louisville will tip around 10 p.m. in Charlotte.
“Our whole thing this year was to make history throughout the entire season,” UT sophomore forward Tyler Smith said. “Two Sweet Sixteens back-to-back is a new one, but making an Elite Eight would be even better.”
Tennessee missed two opportunities to blow Butler out of the building, but the Bulldogs fought back from double-digit deficits in both halves, getting within one in the final minute of the first half and tying UT in the final minute of the second half.
Butler bulldozed back from a 22-9 deficit to defeat the Vols 56-44 in last year’s preseason NIT. The Bulldogs almost left Birmingham on top, too, but UT sophomore point guard J.P. Prince atoned for two final-minute turnovers to swat Mike Green’s would-be, game-winning shot at time expired in the second half.
Prince — the SEC’s sixth man of the year as a wing — started for the first time as a Vol and needed that defensive stand to avoid a catastrophic climax to Bruce Pearl’s point guard gamble. Prince had a pass picked off with 47 seconds left in regulation and was whistled for traveling with 4.1 seconds left to put UT’s season in serious doubt.
“The play just didn’t work out like we drew it up, and I got stuck, and I switched my pivot foot,” Prince said. “But my team bailed me out. That’s what teammates are for.”
A.J. Graves hit a driving runner to give Butler its first lead at 68-66 with 1:45 left in overtime, but former UT starting point guard Ramar Smith penetrated to re-tied it 20 seconds later.
Chism finished inside from a JaJuan Smith pass to put the Vols back in front with 54 seconds left, and Ramar Smith muscled his way inside for another layup to make it 72-68 with 26.6 seconds remaining. Ramar Smith missed the free throw, but JaJuan Smith made both of this after Butler rallied back within one possession on Pete Campbell putback and a Julian Betko free toss.
JaJuan Smith barely beat Betko to the loose ball, and Betko’s momentum smashed Smith to the ground.
“I let myself down this year with my free-throw percentage,” said Smith, a 76 percent shooter at the line this season who went 4-for-4 on Sunday. “I’ve been working extremely hard at the free-throw line, and it paid off.”
The Bulldogs entered the NCAA tournament just shy of 74 percent from the free-throw line, and they went 18-for-28 (64 percent) on Sunday. UT shot just shy of 66 percent, which actually increased its season average.
Graves and Green — consistently mentioned among the nation’s best backcourts — combined to shoot 10-for-35 from the field, and 4-for-16 from behind the arc.
“Tennessee has some athletic guys that contested a lot of shots, and at the same time, sometimes it just doesn’t work your way,” Green said. “I think it was both.”
Added Graves: “We had shooters spot up on the perimeter, and Tennessee decided to stay tight a few times. That’s why we kept driving it in there, but those just didn’t go down.”
But the Bulldogs still didn’t go down easily.
UT sped out to an 18-6 lead in the first eight minutes, but Butler slowly whittled within 35-34 on a Campbell 3 in the final minute of the half. Lofton responded with a trey to put the Vols up 38-34 at halftime.
“We thought we could compete with Tennessee, and I’m so proud of our effort,” Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “You think about the fact that we went to overtime with probably ... easily one of the top three or four teams in the country.”
Pearl called Sunday’s matchup “a little unfair, and a little unfortunate for whoever’s going to lose.” The former Wisconsin-Milwaukee coach has now played the Bulldogs 11 times and said “this is the best Butler team that I have seen.
“This is usually a Regional Final number,” Pearl said.
Not this season, apparently.
“I don’t think they deserved that (seed),” Tyler Smith said of the Bulldogs. “They’re another mid-major turning into a powerhouse, like Gonzaga. ... Everybody knows how well they play, how well they execute.
“They deserved to be in the Sweet Sixteen ... But so did we.”
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