INDIANAPOLIS — Tennessee basketball beat rival Kentucky 78-65 on Friday night to advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for a second season in a row.

Here are some rapid postgame takeaways from Lucas Oil Stadium:

What’s that they say about not being able to beat a good team three times in a season? Indeed, the first two games between these teams looked nothing like the third.

After losing twice to Kentucky, Tennessee showed up ready for the one that really mattered.

From the jump, the Vols were too much. They took control immediately and imposed their will on the Wildcats, building a 19-point first-half lead through a combination of stifling defense, dominant rebounding (it was 22-13 at halftime) and effective offense orchestrated by Zakai Zeigler.

In the second half, any time the Wildcats started to come to life — and bring a noisy contingent of fans with them — the Vols found a way to respond and keep them at arm’s length. Kentucky’s offense never looked as comfortable as it did previously against Tennessee.

Not sure what happened in those first two meetings.

Because this time, Tennessee was clearly better.

Zeigler, it would appear, has no intention of going quietly this season. Tennessee’s point guard and leader is stepping up even more and playing some of the best basketball of his career, and that figures to be a big problem for any opponent the rest of the way.

Kentucky simply couldn’t handle Zeigler as Tennessee took control early. He had 13 points and four assists at halftime — and finished with a double-double of 18 and 10 (with only two turnovers). His stellar quarterbacking was huge on a night where the Vols won comfortably despite not doing much from 3-point range for the majority of the game.

This is Zeigler's run, y'all. Other Vols are along for the ride.

It felt for a while like this was going to be a quiet evening for Chaz Lanier.

Nah.

Lanier hit some shots and ended up with 17 points despite not making a 3-pointer until about halfway through the second half.

And while we're here: A nod, too, to Jordan Gainey. After a strong SEC Tournament, he has remained an unheralded factor off the bench. Gainey scored 16 Friday night, and the Vols outscored the Wildcats 23-6 in bench points.

I mean, poor Houston, right? Imagine being the Midwest Region’s No. 1 seed and having to come here alongside in-state Purdue and SEC monsters Tennessee and Kentucky, two huge fan bases that also happen to be within driving distance of the place.

You’d expect a strong showing for Vols fans at cavernous Lucas Oil Stadium, and yes, that happened. But you’d have also expected more Wildcats fans to make the short trip. And that was the case, too.

Tennessee fans were loud enough — and happy enough — for much of the evening, though.

And the Vols also had . . .

Peyton Manning makes a lot of important University of Tennessee sporting events. But of course, he’d be at this one, because it took place at a stadium that has his statue outside. The Indianapolis Colts legend was shown on the big screen prior to tipoff, which drew a mixed reaction from the mixed crowd.

Perhaps this game, coming on the heels of the College World Series win last summer, will retire talk of UT’s Manning curse when he’s in attendance.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at [email protected] and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee basketball was just better than Kentucky in NCAA Tournament