Zakai Zeigler had 18 points and 10 assists, and Tennessee outhustled and outplayed Kentucky on both ends of the court in a 78-65 victory Friday night that sent the Volunteers to a second consecutive Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

The Midwest Region’s second-seeded Vols (30-7) beat their border rival in the first all-Southeastern Conference Sweet 16 matchup since 1986 and will play Sunday against Houston or Purdue in the Midwest Region final.

Chaz Lanier added 17 points and Jordan Gainey had 16 for the Vols, who lost twice to Kentucky in the regular season but prevailed on a much bigger stage this time.

Michigan State 73, Mississippi 70 >> Jace Richardson scored 24 points and the Spartans (30-6) surged past Ole Miss (24-12) in the second half in Atlanta for a berth in the Elite Eight.

Ole Miss was denied in its bid for its first Elite Eight appearance despite leading by 10 points in the first half and by nine in the second half.

Michigan State (30-6), the South Region’s No. 2 seed, rallied to keep alive coach Tom Izzo’s bid for his ninth Final Four and second national championship.

AlaBama-Duke showdown promises points >> When Alabama faces Duke for a trip to the Final Four today, hoops fans will witness what some say is the future of college basketball, what others call a byproduct of nobody putting up a good enough fight on defense, or some combination of both.

The meeting pitting All-Americans Cooper Flagg (Duke) against Mark Sears (Alabama) is also a showdown between teams that each hit the 100-point mark — a semi-rarity in college games that run 8 minutes shorter than the pros — in the games that vaulted them into the East Region final.

Second-seeded Alabama set March Madness records by attempting 51 3-pointers and making 25 in a 113-88 win over BYU. Had the Crimson Tide not taken any of their scant 15 shots from inside the arc, they still would have scored enough to win.

Top-seeded Duke, not as prolific a 3-point shooting team as Alabama but every bit as deadly with Flagg doing the scoring and passing, shot 60% from the floor and made 11 of 19 shots from 3 (57.9%). The Blue Devils beat Arizona 100-93.

“At the end of the day,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said, “it’s math.”

As Alabama illustrated with precision on Thursday, a team that shoots 33% from 3 can run a more free-flowing offense with a better chance of open shots and will score as many points as one that grinds its way for 2s and makes 50% on the same number of attempts.

With Sears leading the way — his 10 3-pointers Thursday were one short of the tournament record — the Crimson Tide average a nation-leading 91.4 points a game.

Coach Nate Oats, a former math teacher who understands the numbers, said his team will adjust if needed.

“When people ask me, ‘How many 3s do you want to get up?’ Well, it depends on how you want to guard us,” Oats said. “If you’re going to guard us and not let us in the paint, let’s get 51 up. ... If you want to completely run us off the (3-point) line, we’ll try to go score 70, 75 points in the paint.”