CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tennessee had been down this statistical road before, and the results had not been pleasant.
In disappointing NCAA tournament exits against Oregon State in 2021 and against Florida Atlantic last year, the Volunteers failed to shoot 34% from the floor. In Saturday night's round-of-32 meeting with Texas inside the Spectrum Center, it was more of the same as Tennessee was on its way to a 33.8% clip.
Yet this one felt different and was different, because when Tobe Awaka's two free throws gave Tennessee a 6-4 lead in the early going, it was an upper hand the Vols would never relinquish in their 62-58 victory.
"I've said all year that you can't rely on your offense all the time," Tennessee junior guard and defensive menace Jahmai Mashack said after the Vols had clinched a second consecutive trip to the Sweet 16. "It's basketball. You're not going to be able to make every single shot, and teams that rely on their offensive end have a tough time when they can't score. Whether we score or not, nothing changes on the defensive end, because that's our standard.
"If we don't score, we're still going to lock up and play defense and come out with a win like we did tonight. If we do score, then we really make it tough for other teams to deal with us on both ends."
Tennessee (26-8), a No. 2 seed, will face No. 3 seed Creighton (25-9) on Friday in Detroit, with that Midwest Regional semifinal set for approximately 10:10 p.m. on TBS.
The Vols have proven repeatedly this season that they can prevail via a shootout, such as the 103-92 triumph at Kentucky or the 92-84 comeback win over Auburn, or by enduring a 40-minute rock fight like the one that just transpired. The big-scoring games that Dalton Knecht has provided during his All-America season may be more enjoyable for Tennessee fans, but the Vols possess plenty of players who would describe the win over the seventh-seeded Longhorns (21-13) as plenty picturesque.
"I love these kinds of games, really, because it shows how tough of a team we are," junior point guard Zakai Zeigler said. "Tonight, we hung our hats on our defense. We understood that we weren't making shots, but we knew we still had to take open shots. We just went out there and were the tougher team."
Said Mashack: "I think it goes to show how versatile this team is and just how much toughness and resilience we have going from game to game."
There was talk all winter about how this Tennessee team feels different when it comes making a run at the program's first appearance in the Final Four. The Vols are halfway to that objective, but the higher-seeded opponents await.
Still, bowing out of NCAA tournaments can often be self-inflicted, and Tennessee just won a game in which it missed 21 of its first 22 attempts from 3-point range.
"I think grinding one out like this will help us moving forward," fifth-year senior guard Santiago Vescovi said. "The main thing in these kind of games is just telling everybody to be confident and to take their own shots. We know that even when we don't make shots we're going to stay in the game because we guard and get a lot of boards.
"We're going to keep taking shots, because we'll either get offensive boards or we're going to get it back on defense."
The 1997 Clemson Tigers are the only other team to win an NCAA tournament game while shooting less than 34.0% from the floor and less than 12.5% from 3-point range. That team was guided by current Vols coach Rick Barnes.
AP photo by Mike Stewart / Tennessee guard Jahmai Mashack (15) and forward Tobe Awaka celebrate during the second half of the Vols' win against Texas in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday night in Charlotte, N.C. The second-seeded Vols will face third-seeded Creighton in the Sweet 16 on Friday night in Detroit.Surprise, surprise
Barnes typically sits players the remainder of the first half once they pick up their second foul, but that was not the case Saturday night with Awaka.
"I asked him for another chance after I got that second one to put me back in," Awaka said. "I don't think he realized I had a second one. I obviously picked up that third, unfortunately, but I think it's just a testament to the trust I'm given."
Awaka racked up 10 points, five rebounds and a blocked shot in just 10:50 of playing time.
On the brink
Once the NCAA tournament tips off, every team is potentially 40 minutes away from having its season come to a close.
Obviously those thoughts never came into play for the Vols last Thursday night, when they built a 46-20 halftime lead over Saint Peter's in an eventual 83-49 crushing, but what about Saturday night when Texas made it a one-possession game on multiple occasions in the final two minutes?
"When you're locked into a game like that, those thoughts don't even come to your mind," Vescovi said. "We're all competitors at that point, and all we want to do is win, so those thoughts don't come up."
Said Zeigler: "You think about it, but at the same time you don't because you have a lot of confidence in yourself on both ends of the floor. In all the huddles, we told ourselves we'll be perfectly fine."
Finally over .500
Tennessee's two wins in Charlotte improved the Vols to 27-26 all-time in NCAA tournament play.
This marks the first time the Vols have a winning career mark in the March extravaganza. Tennessee had an 8-14 record in NCAA play until the Bruce Pearl era, but Pearl went 8-6, Cuonzo Martin was 3-1 and Barnes is 8-5.
Odds and ends
Vescovi snagged three steals Saturday and is now tops in Tennessee history in that category with 212, topping the 211 amassed by Vincent Yarbrough from 1998-2002. ... Junior forward Jonas Aidoo tallied two blocked shots against the Longhorns and now has 11 in NCAA games, which is the most in program annals.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.