INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (WATE) – Tennessee’s season has come to an end in the Elite 8 for the second straight season, as the Vols fell to Houston 69-50.

A disastrous first half for Tennessee put the Vols in a hole they couldn’t quite get out of. After falling behind by more than 20 in the first half, UT cut the lead to 10 in the second half, but strong three-point shooting from the Cougars ended any chance of a Vols comeback.

The Vols finished 15-of-52 from the field (29%), while the Cougars ended the day 28-of-66 (42%). Tennessee was outrebounded 42-35, and recorded eight second-chance points compared to 19 from the Cougars. Houston also picked up 30 points in the paint, while Tennessee had just 14.

Jordan Gainey and Chaz Lanier led the way for the Vols with 17 points, while Zakai Zeigler was held to just five points.

Houston jumped out to a 4-0 lead early with back-to-back buckets from Joseph Tugler. Tennessee had a chance to get on the board with a pair of free throws from Jahmai Mashack, but the senior missed both.

However, Mashack still managed to get the Vols on the board with a jumper as the shot clock was winding down to cut the Cougars’ lead to two points. Houston followed up with a quick 5-0 run, highlighted by an LJ Cryer triple.

Felix Okparta responded with a pair of free throws to cut the deficit down to five points with 14:46 left in the opening half.

The Cougars then went on an 8-0 run to take a 17-4 lead. Ja’Vier Francis started things off with a dunk and then a trio of shots from three different Houston players gave the Cougars a 13-point advantage.

Okpara ended Houston’s run with a dunk, but Houston quickly found an answer with a Francis layup off Houston’s fifth offensive rebound of the half.

The Cougars extended their lead to 16 points with a Terrance Arceneaux triple, before Lanier pulled the Vols back within 14 thanks to a Chaz Lanier jumper.

At the under-8 timeout, Tennessee was shooting just 19 percent from the field while the Cougars had a 48 percent field-goal percentage.

A quick five points from Arceneaux gave Houston its largest lead of the day so far, as the Cougars led by 19 with 4:52 left in the first half.

Out of the break, Cryer gave Houston a 21-point lead, before Jordan Gainey provided a spark off the bench and pulled the Vols back within 17 with quick back-to-back buckets.

Another quick 5-0 run from the Cougars gave Houston a 22-point advantage, but after starting the game 0-of-14 from deep, Zakai Zeigler drained Tennessee’s first triple of the game with 29 seconds left in the half.

The Cougars took a 34-15 lead into the locker room at half as the Vols finished 6-of-28 from the field and 1-of-15 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes of play. Tennessee also had four turnovers compared to just one from Houston, while the Cougars outrebounded the Vols 26-17 in the first half.

After starting the game 0-of-7 from deep, Lanier finally hit his first triple to cut the deficit to 16 points with 16:28 left in the game. However, as they had done all game long, Houston found a response with a J’wan Roberts three-point play to push the lead back to 19.

Gainey started to take over as the Vols sixth man picked up a quick ten points with two jumpers and two triples to make it a 14-point ballgame at the under-14 timeout.

Jahmai Mashack hit his second bucket of the game with a driving layup to cut the deficit down to 13 with 10:22 left as the Vols started to chip away at the Cougars’ lead.

Emanuel Sharp extended Houston’s advantage to 15 with a layup, before Jahmai Mashack went to the line with a chance to cut the deficit back down to 13. However, Mashack missed both shots as he was 0-for-4 from the charity stripe at that point in the game.

Back-to-back free throws from Chaz Lanier, followed by an exclamation dunk from Igor Milicic, his first field-goal of the day, pulled the Vols within 11 points.

Darlinstone Dubar headed to the free throw line and sunk one of two shots, as Tennessee cut the deficit down to 10 points with 5:42 remaining on the clock.

Houston’s Emanuel Sharp put an end to Tennessee’s run with a deep three-pointer to make it a 13-point ballgame.

Jordan Gainey hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit down to 11 points as Gainey was up to 17 points in the game.

Sharp immediately took that momentum away as he drained his third long ball of the game, and second straight, to push the Houston lead back up to 14.

Things went from bad to worse as the Cougars hit their third straight three-pointer, this time from Mylik Wilson as Houston took a 17-point advantage into the under-4 timeout.

Sharp’s fourth triple of the game, followed by another three-pointer from Cryer was the exclamation point and ended Tennessee’s chance of a comeback.