Iowa Iowa/Tennessee Tennessee Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

Less than 24 hours after his Tennessee team got into a postgame scrap with George Washington, the Volunteers put away Iowa 80-62 Friday night in the semifinal of the Rainbow Classic.

"It's a good win for us and it's good we were able to answer when we were back on our heels a little bit and the momentum left us," Green said.

"That's old news (the near-brawl). The big news, the important news, is that we're in the finals of the tournament."

The Volunteers (12-1) Hawaii, a 75-67 winner over Saint Louis, on Saturday for the tournament title.

Tony Harris scored 20 points and keyed two big runs to power Tennessee (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP).

The Volunteers went on a 24-5 rally to close out the first half and take a 33-22 lead. Harris had four points and three assists during the spurt.

Harris then hit a pair of 3-pointers during a 11-0 run to start the second half that gave Tennessee a 44-22 lead.

"Harris was the one that got away from us," Iowa coach Steve Alford said. "He really hurt us and broke us down at critical moments."

Lapses on defense and a weak shooting performance also contributed to Iowa's downfall, Alford said.

"I think we need to take charges. We didn't do that. That was the most disappointing thing defensively," he said. "They're a Top Five team and you're not going to beat them very often shooting 39 percent (24-of-61)."

Alford pointed to a 12-minute first half stretch that hurt the Hawkeyes (No. 22 ESPN/USA Today, No. 23 AP).

"That was as bad offensively as we can be," he said.

But the Hawkeyes (10-2) rallied behind four 3-pointers by Brody Boyd and cut the lead to 58-53 on a basket by Jared Reiner.

"They did a great job of cutting it down (Tennessee's lead), but I thought we answered," Green said. "And that's the big key with this club."

Harris responded with a basket Jon Higgins added a 3-pointer to put the Volunteers back up by 10.

Tennessee had only two baskets over the final four minutes, but converted 12 of 15 free throws as the Hawkeyes fouled in trying to catch up.

Although Reggie Evans led the Hawkeyes with 19 points and 10 rebounds, Green said Charles Hathaway made his presence felt.

"I thought it was big," Green said of Hathaway's performance. "We kept trying to work him in the defensive end. He gives us that good presence.

"It's really hard to guard Evans continually and not draw the foul."

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