 Rutgers had survived two close games to reach this point, defeating 12th-seeded Oregon, 79–76, in the first round, and then upsetting 4th-seeded Iowa State, 62–61 in the second.Their third-round game was not quite so close.Although Rutgers only trailed by two towards the end of the first period, UT was able to outscore Rutgers by six to close it out, and opened the second half up by building the lead to sixteen.