WATCH: Tennessee mobs Olivier Nkamhoua in hilarious postgame celebration after punching ticket to Sweet Sixteen
Olivier Nkamhoua was the star of afternoon on Saturday, lifting Tennessee to the Sweet Sixteen with a massive performance against Duke. His teammates let him know with a postgame celebration, carrying him into the locker room and showering the senior with love (and water) while jumping in jubilation.
Nkamhoua poured in 27 points — tying his career high set earlier this season — and pulled down five rebounds as the Volunteers secured a 65-52 victory. You can view the celebration below.
With the win, Tennessee advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the ninth time in program history. It is also the second time for the Volunteers under coach Rick Barnes, who also led the team to the Sweet Sixteen in 2019.
The effort from Nkamhoua was one of his best all season, as he finished well above his season average of 10.5 points per game. Of his 27 points, 23 came in the second half, including one stretch where he dropped in 13 straight. He capped off the impressive performance with an emphatic dunk late in the waning minutes to put an exclamation point on the victory.
Tennessee has been one of the top defensive teams in the country, holding opponents to just 57.9 points per game to rank third among all teams. That trend continued Saturday as the Volunteers used a stifling defensive effort to defeat Duke, forcing 15 Blue Devils turnovers and holding them to just 6-of-22 (27.3%) from 3-point range. They held star freshman Kyle Filipowski to just 13 points on 6-of-16 (37.5%) shooting and 0-of-5 from beyond the arc.
“It’s what we do,” Nkamhoua said postgame. “We’ve been in these kinds of fights all year. We’ve lost some, we won some and we’ve weathered the storm all year.”
Even more impressive is that Tennessee pulled off the win without one of the key members of its team. Starting point guard Zakai Zeigler suffered an ACL injury late in the regular season and left the Volunteers without one of their key offensive playmakers. So far they’ve gotten the job done in his absence, and will hope to keep rolling as they eye just their second Elite Eight berth in school history.
Tennessee will play the winner between No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson and No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic with a chance to advance to the Elite Eight next week. Tip time for the game has yet to be announced.