Tyreke Key scored 12 points and Tennessee led by as much as 18 points before edging away in a 58-55 win over Louisiana in an NCAA Tournament East Region first-round game in Orlando, Fla. on Thursday night.
Jahmai Mashack added 11 points for the fourth-placed Volunteers (24-10), who won for the sixth time in their last 13 games. Tennessee meets fifth-placed Duke (27-8) in the second round on Saturday.
Jordan Brown had 16 points and seven rebounds and Kobe Julien added 15 points for 13th seed Louisiana (26-8) who ended a five-game winning streak. Jalen Dalcourt had 11 points and Themus Fulks had 11 assists for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Julien made two free throws with 23.1 seconds remaining as Louisiana slipped within 56-53. Tennessee’s Josiah-Jordan James shared two free throws with 19.1 seconds left and Julian Phillips made 1 of 2 with 7.4 seconds to play while the Volunteers held on.
“I don’t think (they) are ever going to go away,” said Tennessee coach Rick Barnes of the Ragin’ Cajuns. “You don’t win as many games as they do. You don’t expect them to go away, but we make a few mistakes you can’t make. The fact is we found a way to end it.”
Tennessee committed 18 turnovers and shot 45.7 percent from the field, including just 4 of 16 from 3-point range.
The Ragin’ Cajuns hit 40 percent of their shots and were 6 of 18 behind the arc.
Louisiana trailed 48-30 before Julien scored 11 points during a 13-0 burst. He made two 3-pointers to start the run, later drove to a layup and finished the sprint with a three to put the Ragin’ Cajuns 48-43 with 7:29 left.
The lead was five again before Mashack went on to score four points in 34 seconds while Louisiana went without a point for four minutes.
Dalcourt ended the drought with a 3-pointer to pull the Ragin’ Cajuns within 54-48 with 2:37 left. He nailed another trey as Louisiana cut the Volunteers’ lead to 56-51 with 1:08 to go.
Tennessee led 19-11 near the middle of the first half before the Ragin’ Cajuns made eight straight runs to tie it 4:43 left to Brown’s basket.
The Volunteers then rolled out the last 11 points of the half and led 30-19 at the break.
Brown had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting at halftime for Louisiana while his teammates had a combined 3-of-19.
Tennessee stayed hot early in the second half, taking a 39-23 lead with Jonas Aidoo’s dunk leading 15-27.
Key buried a 3-pointer to take an 18-point lead with 12 minutes left before the Ragin’ Cajuns began their frantic run.
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