INDIANAPOLIS — Jahmai Mashack kept his eye on Collin Chandler.

The Tennessee guard had his back turned, facing Lamont Butler at the top of the key but aware of where Chandler was with the ball. Then Mashack put his defensive awareness on full display.

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Mashack got a hand on Chandler's pass to Butler, gathering in the ball and taking it back the other way. That Vols' possession, created by Mashack, ended in a Darlinstone Dubar 3-pointer.

Less than a minute later, Mashack stepped in front of another pass, wiping out another possession from a Kentucky team that spent nearly all of Friday playing from behind at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Two-seed Tennessee won convincingly, 78-65 on its way to its second-straight Elite Eight berth after another defensive masterclass that frustrated and suffocated the 3-seed Wildcats from start to finish.

"I think Kentucky played the way they wanted to, they tried to play their best basketball," Mashack said. "I just feel like we did a great job of guarding them. I feel like our defense and our pressure really helped."

It was a stark contrast to the two regular season meetings between the teams--both Vols losses. Kentucky shot 50% from the perimeter in those games. It hardly had any looks this time around.

"Communication (was the difference)," Mashack said. "Just making sure we were getting out on shooters, making sure that we were locking down defensively and making sure that we were getting through screens and running them off the free throw line.

"Kentucky is a good team, but we knew what we had to do coming in and we didn't waver from that."

Mashack was a big reason why. He had five steals, an NCAA Tournament record at Tennessee. He’s had 16 in 12 tournament games, another school record.

Tennessee (30-7) is within reach of its first-ever Final Four because of it, continuing a storied finish to Mashack's equally storied career as one of the best defenders the Vols have ever had.

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"I feel like people now know that I'm a winner," Mashack told VolReport. "I've been saying that since I came to this program. I'm a winner, and I'm going to find a way to win, no matter what. That's just the competitor that I am."

Mashack is a winner. No other player at Tennessee has been a part of more NCAA Tournament wins than him. He set the record with his eighth in four years in the Vols' 67-58 triumph of 7-seed UCLA in the Second Round last weekend in Lexington.

Every win from here on out just adds to that record, but Mashack's ambitions are more than just numbers and individual accolades.

One more win against 1-seed Houston in the Elite Eight on Sunday (2:20 p.m. ET, CBS) will make Mashack part of arguably the greatest Tennessee team of all-time. Three more wins will solidify that claim.

"I'm not satisfied with this," Mashack said. "I want to get further. I want to be able to do more, and I want to get where we need to be, which is the national championship game."

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