Nobody in Chicago tonight had a better individual performance relative to expectations than Bishop Boswell. He was assigned to Momcilovic, the Serbian assassin who had been lighting up brackets all tournament, and he turned him into a walk-on. Six points. Two for nine from three. Momcilovic looked genuinely confused the entire night. Boswell finished with 8 assists and was a wall every time Iowa State tried to get comfortable. His defensive performance deserves its own highlight reel.
Jalen Carey Finally Looked Like the Guy
Vols fans remember watching Carey at Vanderbilt last year and thinking this kid is a problem. Tonight he finally looked like that player in orange. Eleven points, ten rebounds, four assists in 22 minutes off the bench. He finished inside with authority, had that steal and runout dunk that shifted the momentum, and gave this team a completely different dimension than it had earlier in the season. If Carey plays like this in the Elite Eight, Tennessee becomes a genuinely frightening opponent for anyone left.
The Depth Story Won This Game
Nine Tennessee players got meaningful minutes. Nine. Look at the contributors: Ament 18, Okpara 12, Gillespie 16 despite the rough shooting night, Carey 11, Boswell the defensive anchor, Burg steady for 20 minutes, Evans chipping in. Iowa State had Heise and Lipsey for 18 each and then a significant dropoff. When your best player is having a nightmare game and your second unit responds by collectively taking over, that is not a talented team. That is a coached team.
Barnes made his halftime adjustments and came out and built something dominant in the second half. Iowa State shot 22 percent from three for the game and 39 percent overall. Tennessee held a 29-8 opponent to 62 points.
The Okpara Factor
Felix Okpara’s blocks are not just defensive plays. They are psychological events. When a guy drives the lane and gets his shot rejected by someone who makes it look effortless, the next three possessions that player takes are affected. Iowa State had no answer for him in the paint and the big-to-big lobs were a thing of beauty. Brown, Estrella, and Carey all found him, and every time it was a conversation-ender.
Gillespie Gets a Pass
Five turnovers. Two of eleven from three. On paper that is a bad game. But sixteen points on seven of seventeen overall means he was still making plays, and more importantly his teammates covered for him completely. That is what a team with real depth does. The star has an off night and the team wins by fourteen anyway.
Free Throws
We finally missed less FTs than an opponent! Yeesh.
Rebounding Is THE Story
Two double doubles tonight. Okpara with 12 and 10. Carey with 11 and 10 off the bench in 22 minutes. Let that sink in. Your sixth man comes off the bench against a two seed in the Sweet 16 and posts a double double. That is not depth. That is a weapon Barnes has been sharpening all year that is just now fully drawn.
But here is the thing about those rebounding numbers that tells the real story. Tennessee finished with 43 rebounds to Iowa State’s 22.
That is not an edge. That is a demolition. And when you look at how those 43 were distributed, nobody has a number that looks like a traditional rebounding monster. Okpara 10, Carey 10, Ament 4, Estrella 4, Boswell 4, Evans 4, Burg 2, Brown 2.
The excellent Iowa State coach has only had his teams outrebounded by 20 3 times in his career.
The whole team makes that happen.
This is not Tobe Awaka carrying the glass on his back while everyone else watches. This is every single player on this roster treating every single possession like the rebound belongs to him personally. You cannot game plan for that. Who do you box out when everyone is coming?
That is not recruited. That is coached. And it is one of the most underrated reasons we are heading to a third consecutive Elite Eight.
A Word on the Moment
Rick Barnes has built something here that Tennessee basketball has never seen. Third straight Elite Eight. And here is the most remarkable cultural indicator of what he has accomplished: Tennessee fans were somewhat meh about a Sweet 16 appearance because we expect Elite Eights now. That is the standard. When we make our first Final Four, and the trajectory says it is coming, the ticket prices will be astronomical and Big Orange Nation will show up in force because this program has earned that fanbase. But we earned it one defensive possession and one Barnes halftime adjustment at a time.
Kentucky got bounced. Again. Their fans hate watched this game and watched us win. Last March we beat them too.
The greatest run of basketball in Tennessee history is not over. It is just getting started.
Elite Eight. Third straight year. Go Vols.
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Clayton Wood is Contributing Editor for TriStar Daily. He is a Knoxville pastor and attorney
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