• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Tennessee outlasts Iowa in OT, advances in NCAA Tournament

Mar 20, 2014 - 5:19 AM Dayton, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Jordan McRae scored 20 points, Jarnell Stokes added 18 with 13 rebounds and Tennessee held Iowa without a field goal in overtime en route to a 78-65 comeback victory in a First Four meeting of No. 11 seeds in the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday.

Tennessee (22-12), which never led in the first 16-plus minutes of regulation, will next head to Raleigh for a date with Massachusetts, the No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region.

Josh Richardson scored 17 points -- all after halftime -- and helped hold Iowa's leading scorer, Roy Devyn Marble, to seven points on 3-of-15 shooting.

"Watching film on (Marble), I noticed that he likes to be real comfortable with the ball, and so I tried to just take him out full court, trying to get him uncomfortable and get him out of his rhythm," Richardson said.

Marble sent the game to overtime with a late jumper, but finished 10 points below his season average. Adam Woodbury stepped up with 16 points and eight boards in the loss.

Iowa's final game epitomized its season, as the Hawkeyes (20-13) started out strong and ultimately fell flat as they missed all eight of their shots in extra session to lose for the seventh time in their last eight games.

There were five lead changes and three ties in the final 3:07 of regulation, but overtime was all Tennessee.

Stokes, who was hit with a technical foul for a high elbow early in the second half, opened it with a three-point play, and McRae added a layup for a five- point Tennessee lead.

Aaron White went 1-of-2 at the foul line to make it a four-point game, but that wound up being the only point Iowa scored over the final five minutes.

The Vols also went without a field goal the rest of the way, but they made nine of their 10 free throws to advance to the round of 64.

Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery made it to UD Arena in time for tip-off having flown back from Iowa City earlier to be with his 13-year old son while he underwent surgery to remove a thyroid tumor.

"It was a day that, needless to say, has been very difficult," said McCaffery, who added his son can potentially return home from the hospital on Thursday if everything goes as planned. "It puts wins and losses in perspective."

McCaffery's bunch jumped on top early as the Vols missed their first seven shots and found themselves trailing 8-0 before the first official timeout.

A Josh Oglesby 3-pointer gave the Hawkeyes a 16-4 lead a little more than eight minutes in, but Tennessee stayed within striking distance and scored 10 of the last 12 points in the half, including two on McRae's buzzer-beating leaner, to pull within 29-26.

Richardson's 3-pointer 5 1/2 minutes into the second half evened things at 37-37, but Woodbury answered with a jumper at the other end to keep Tennessee from taking its first lead.

That came when Antonio Barton hit from long range with 3:07 remaining to cap a 7-0 run that gave the Vols a 59-57 advantage.

It was back-and-forth the rest of regulation, with Jeronne Maymon providing the final lead change on a layup while being fouled. Maymon missed the free throw, but the rebound, thanks to a good hustle play by Stokes, was knocked out of bounds by Iowa.

Stokes was fouled away from the basket with time winding down on the shot clock and made 1-of-2 from the line with 25.5 seconds to go, leaving it a two- point game.

Marble drained a tying 18-footer with a hand in his face, then closed out on McRae's stepback jumper that drew iron at the buzzer.

Game Notes

Tennessee's reserves were outscored by a 35-4 margin ... The Vols had not reached the NCAA Tournament the previous two years, while Iowa was making its first appearance in eight years ... The Hawkeyes have not won a tourney game since 2001 when they upended Creighton in the first round.