FanHouse J.p.Prince

The 15 seed American University Eagles played about 35 minutes of tough, aggressive basketball and at times appeared poised to pull off one of the greatest upsets in NCAA Tournament history today, but 2-seed Tennessee was ultimately too much, winning a 72-57 game that was much closer than that score would indicate.

The game wasn't a classic like last night's Duke-Belmont game, but it had its moments, and for much of the early portion of the game it was American, not Tennessee, that looked like it had come to play. Most impressive was American's rebounding edge of 37-25.

It was still a one-possession game, with Tennessee up 54-51, with less than five minutes to play, but when Tennessee needed big shots, it got them. JaJuan Smith, in particular, was impressive, making 4-of-8 from three-point range.

Next up for Tennessee will be the Butler-South Alabama winner. The Volunteers will be favored, but they'll need a better effort than they put up today against American.

The crowd was standing all game, making a lot of noise for their Musketeers, and when Bruce Pearl picked up a technical foul with just under four minutes to play it looked like Tennessee was coming apart. The players had more composure than their coach, though. They forced four turnovers in those final four minutes and closed with a 13-2 run for an 82-75 win.

Tyler Smith was the standout for the Vols during that run. He scored six of his 12 points, blocked a shot and had a key steal to help the Vols to their biggest win of the season. They wouldn't have been in position to pull it off if not for the great first half turned in by J.P. Prince. With Chris Lofton and the normally deadly Vol three-point shooters shut down, Prince, playing just his third game in orange, kept driving through the perimeter focused Musketeer defense. He had 16 points in the first 20 minutes and his play off the bench will make Tennessee a dangerous team as the season progresses.

The loss is a tough one for Xavier to swallow.