With about 8 1/2 minutes left, Tennessee had a lead and on a loose ball heading out of bounds, JP Estrella boxed out Virginia’s Sam Lewis from trying to save it. Lewis didn’t like the contact and shoved Estrella, which earned him a dead-ball technical foul. Tennessee would hit one of the free throws to extend the lead to 8.
And then the Cavaliers rallied. Over the next 4 minutes, Virginia would go on an 11-3 run, ending with Thijs De Ridder hitting a couple free throws after being fouled trying to get a rebound. The teams would start to go back and forth scoring layups, until the 2 minute mark when De Ridder hit a three-pointer from the wing to give Virginia a 71-70 lead.
On the next play, Nate Ament would get fouled and hit both free throws to reclaim the lead for the Volunteers. Virginia tried to get the ball inside with Dailin Hall, but his turnaround jumper in the lane was too strong.
Virginia played tight defense, and forced a loose ball when Avent got trapped along the wing. The ball got blocked into the air, and Bishop Boswell beat Chance Mallory to the ball, with Mallory knocking them both down to the ground for a foul. But Mallory would only hit one of the free throws so Virginia could still tie or take the lead on the next possession with 46 seconds.
Jacan White made a nice drive to the basket, but missed the reverse layup. The ball got tipped up by Virginia but that also missed and then a Tennessee player tried to slap the ball outside. The ball hits another Volunteer in the head, and then it looked like it barely touched the fingers of a Virginia player before rolling out of bounds.
Virginia challenged it, and to be honest, it looked like the ball never was touched by the Virginia player – he completely whiffed trying to catch it. But the referees ruled the video was not inconclusive evidence and that you could not tell if it touched his finger or not. So Tennessee would get the ball.
VIrginia would be forced to foul Ja’Kobi Gillespie, and he calmly drilled both free throws to make it a two-possession game. Chance Mallory made a nice drive to get to the hoop but once again the layup would miss and get hit out of bounds. This time, Virginia would keep it.
The pass with 15 seconds left went to Jacari White for a wide open three pointer in the corner, but White threw up an air-ball that was rebounded by Gillespie. Once again, Gillespie hit both free throws and iced the game for the Volunteers – they will head to the Sweet 16!!!