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Tennessee is back in the Elite Eight because it’s No. 1 in this stat

SDF StaffBy

CHICAGO – They were coming at the Tennessee men’s basketball team like no one else had this season, Rick Barnes said afterwards. Iowa State players were hounding anyone wearing orange all over the United Center court, and the Vols were heaving shots at the end of the shot clock as their NCAA Tournament Midwest Region Sweet 16 game began Friday, March 27.

But when freshman Nate Ament launched an errant 3-pointer, Felix Okpara grabbed the offensive rebound. Then J.P. Estrella grabbed another miss. Then Ament grabbed one more miss. A minute later, Okpara corralled an errant shot attempt. Then Estrella did, too. Another offensive rebound sent Estrella to the free throw line. Before the first media timeout, once Okpara snagged yet another offensive rebound, Tennessee had somehow grabbed seven of its first 10 missed shots of the game.

Never mind that this only led to one basket. The tone had been set, one that carried the sixth-seeded Volunteers back into the Elite Eight for the third year in a row after a 76-62 win over shorthanded No. 2 seed Iowa State that felt more like a bludgeoning because of the manner in which the beating was delivered.

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Tennessee demoralized an Iowa State team already playing without All-American Joshua Jefferson because the biggest plays of the game revolved around offensive rebounds. Of course they did. It’s perhaps the best explanation why Tennessee, with just one player in the lineup Friday who played in last year’s Elite Eight game, gets another chance to earn its first Final Four appearance in Sunday’s Midwest Region final against No. 1 seed Michigan.

The Volunteers have the nation’s best offensive rebounding percentage this season, according to KenPom, and there really isn’t anyone close to them left in the bracket. Tennessee grabs an offensive rebound on 45% of its missed shots. For comparison, none of the seven other teams left in the NCAA Tournament bracket grab more than 40% of their missed shots.

“It’s our identity. That’s our best offense. That’s what coach Barnes always says,” Okpara said.

Tennessee corralled 16 more offensive rebounds against Iowa State and turned those extra possessions into 14 second-chance points, part of a 43-22 rebounding advantage the Vols enjoyed on the glass to offset their 17 turnovers.

They advanced mostly through brute force, not finesse.

“We stayed in the same set pretty much the entire second half,” Barnes said.

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Iowa State Cyclones fans cheer against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Enterprise Center on March 22, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri.

But what had been accomplished was still sinking in as he answered questions about it late Friday. This was the deep frontcourt he envisioned deploying last offseason after Houston ended last year’s NCAA Tournament run. He also thought this team should have won more games than it did during the regular season.

Then Ament, the Vols’ freshman projected NBA draft lottery pick, hurt his ankle last month. Barnes hoped this would all come together in time for March Madness.

Suddenly this has, largely because these Volunteers can suck the life out of teams with each wayward shot attempt.

They’re better than anyone in the country at it.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tennessee Vols basketball back in Elite 8 thanks to this stat

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