CHARLOTTE — The other day, Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes was lamenting having to play Texas in the NCAA tournament’s round of 32, and not just because the seventh-seeded Longhorns figured to present a formidable obstacle to the No. 2 seed Volunteers’ national championship aspirations.

Barnes, who coached in Austin for 17 seasons before moving on to Tennessee, directed the Longhorns to the Final Four in 2003. He built plenty of lasting relationships there and continues to remain in touch with friends in the area, so Barnes grudgingly acknowledged scheming to beat his former employer was an unappealing part of his job.

There wasn’t any special glee in his voice, either, when he discussed the particulars of a 62-58 triumph Saturday night at Spectrum Center that sent Tennessee (26-8) to the round of 16 in Detroit, where it will face No. 3 seed Creighton in a Midwest Region semifinal.

“I can’t tell you how much respect I have for — I could talk all night about Texas and their staff,” said Barnes, whose 805 wins are second among active coaches behind Kentucky’s John Calipari (855). “I knew they were going to play so hard. Just proud of our team. Really proud of the effort of both teams. I thought both teams played their hearts out.”

Guard Dalton Knecht scored a game-high 18 points for the Volunteers, who are off to the Sweet 16 for a second straight season. The SEC player of the year made both ends of consecutive one-and-one free throw opportunities in the final 10 seconds to help Tennessee hang on.

The Volunteers went 7 for 8 at the foul line in the final minute. The closest Texas came in that time was 56-55 with 34 seconds left on Max Abmas’s driving layup, but Tennessee bumped its lead back to three with a pair of free throws by forward Jonas Aidoo, who had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Guards Tyrese Hunter and Chendall Weaver scored 13 points apiece for the Longhorns (21-13). Hunter collected six rebounds but committed six of Texas’s 17 turnovers that led to 15 points for Tennessee, which overcame 3-for-25 shooting (12.0 percent) from beyond the arc in a game it led for all but four minutes.

“I wanted the ball in my hands,” Knecht, who shot 5 for 18, said of the tense finish. “I told [teammate Zakai Zeigler] that when we were walking out of that timeout, saying I want the ball in my hands. He had trust in me, as well as the whole team had trust in me. Despite my shooting performance today, they had trust in me to go take those shots, and I can’t thank my teammates and coaching staff enough.”

The Volunteers led by as many as 12, at 40-28, with 13 minutes to play, but Texas managed to claw back beginning with a three-pointer from forward Brock Cunningham. Abmas’s three-pointer from in front of the Longhorns’ bench trimmed the deficit to 45-42 with seven minutes to go.

The response from Tennessee featured a two-handed dunk by Aidoo and Knecht’s corner three-pointer. Zeigler assisted on both before the Longhorns rallied again thanks to three layups by Hunter, the last whittling the margin to 55-53 with 1:54 left.

Rugged defense carried Tennessee to a 28-19 halftime lead. The Volunteers needed to be stout on that end in part because they missed their first 11 three-point attempts. The first and only three-pointer that went through the net in the half came from Zeigler with 2:04 to go, providing a 26-17 lead.

Texas closed the half making just 1 of 10 from the field and committed 11 first-half turnovers that yielded nine points.

“I’d like to start out by congratulating Tennessee on a well-fought victory tonight,” Texas Coach Rodney Terry said. “A lot of respect for Coach Barnes — family to me. Happy for him and his team, but I’m really proud of my team and my guys.”

The pregame pomp and circumstance included Barnes sharing a long embrace with Terry, who took over the program on the heels of the dismissal of Chris Beard, the previous coach arrested for domestic assault. Texas initially suspended Beard before firing him Jan. 5, 2023. Terry was Barnes’s assistant with the Longhorns from 2002 to 2011 before leading Fresno State and UTEP.

Soon after Saturday’s tip-off, Terry was urging his players to regroup when the Volunteers raced to an early lead. The Longhorns responded, drawing within 18-17 on Abmas’s three-pointer, but Tennessee never relinquished its advantage.

“These are the kinds of games in the tournament you get bounced when you shot as poorly as we did, but we found a way with our defense,” Barnes said after the Volunteers shot 22 for 65 (33.8 percent). “All we kept talking about during timeouts was to keep taking our shots. We’ve got to get it done on the defensive end.”