Olivier Nkamhoua's second half performance sends motivated Vols to Sweet 16

ORLANDO, Fla. — Olivier Nkamhoua was barely conscious.

As an official's whistle echoed throughout Amway Center, the Tennessee senior forward crashed to the floor and watched his shot fall through.

It was Nkamhoua's second basket of the second half and it just answered a 10-3 Duke run that had cut the Vols' lead to two.

It also helped open the way for an emphatic performance in which Nkamhoua finished with 27 points and helped Tennessee clinch its first Sweet 16 berth since 2019 with a 65-52 win.

But Nkamhoua didn't think about how important that play was at the time.

"Honestly, I was kind of like just in the moment," Nkamhoua recalled. "My teammates were just trying to tell me to calm down a little because I was reaching...I was just trying to play. I was just trying to be out there trying to have fun. I've never really played in a tournament before, so this was all really fun and new to me."

It was fun for Tennessee, too.

The Vols rolled, thanks in part to Nkamhoua's 23 second half points. They'll play the winner of a Sunday Second Round game between 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson and 9-seed Florida Atlantic at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

But first, Tennessee can enjoy this one.

In a season marred by injuries and inconsistencies, there wasn't much outside optimism that the Vols could overcome the crushing loss of star guard Zakai Zeigler –who suffered an ACL tear on Feb. 28– in the postseason.

Those feelings were only exacerbated when Tennessee dropped its regular season finale at Auburn, then struggled late in an SEC Tournament quarterfinal loss to Missouri in Nashville.

The Vols (25-10) were even fighting for their season in the First Round against Louisiana on Thursday.

Standing between Tennessee and the Sweet 16 was a surging Duke team that had won 10-straight games and an ACC Tournament title coming into Saturday's match up.

"Throughout the whole season, we probably played like two games with everybody being healthy," Tennessee forward Jonas Aidoo said. "We haven't been playing with anybody like 100% healthy. We've gone through a lot of adversity this year and I think that helped us to get here in March."

The players were aware of the outside noise.

In this day and age, it's hard to open Twitter without seeing it.

Instead, Tennessee turned it into motivation while maintaining the belief that those February struggles would only help them in March. It's helping now.

"Extra motivation is always good," Nkamhoua said. "Outside noise is outside noise. It's really just noise. You listen to it if you want to. It's just extra motivation, but I know my guys were motivated by the fact that we didn't make it (to the Sweet 16) last year. We had a tough season with a bunch of up an downs.

"We've just got a bunch of competitive guys that want to win. We have enough motivation already, but everybody can use some extra."

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