Both teams could have used the win, but just Tennessee was successful.

The No. 24 Volunteers beat VCU 77-72 on Wednesday in the semifinals of the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

They advance to the championship game Friday against the winner of the UCLA-Villanova game. VCU (3-1) plays the loser in the consolation game earlier that day.

The win takes some focus off Volunteers (4-0) head coach Bruce Pearl’s trouble with the NCAA because of recruiting violations. It also helps right a Tennessee program that started slowly and drew questions of how good it actually was.

If the Rams had won, they could’ve improved their candidacy for the NCAA tournament. They were beaten by a strong Tennessee defense that limited Joey Rodriguez and Bradford Burgess. The pair entered the game averaging 35.3 points per game but combined for 14 Wednesday.

The game was tied at 41-41 at the 15:14 mark in the second half before Tennessee posted a 16-5 run over about eight minutes and appeared to put the game away. VCU brought the game to 67-65 before a late stretch from the Volunteers.

Scotty Hopson led Tennessee in scoring with 18 points and Tobias Harris added 15.