NEW YORK - Florida Atlantic (34-3) punched its ticket to the program's first-ever Elite Eight with a 62-55 win over No. 4 seed Tennessee on Thursday night from Madison Square Garden. The Elite Eight trip is the first for a Conference USA squad since Memphis in 2008, and the league's seventh all-time. The Owls will take on No. 3 seed Kansas State on Saturday with a trip to the Final Four on the line at 5 p.m. CT on TBS.

Despite a tough-shooting first half, the Owls stayed in it early with its defense. Tennessee led by as many as nine in the first half, and took a five-point advantage into the break. Florida Atlantic then utilized a 20-4 run in over a six-and-a-half minute stretch to flip the script and surged to a 10-point lead. The Owls never looked back, suffocating the Volunteers and holding them to just 55 points on just 33% shooting (and 26% from three). 

Sophomore guard Johnell Davis led the Owls in scoring, posting 13 of his 15 points in the second half, pushing his second half scoring average in tournament games thus far to 15.3, while also grabbing six boards. Center Vlad Goldin was a stalwart inside defensively, and hauled in seven rebounds for Florida Atlantic in the win, while guard Nick Boyd was 5-11 from the field with 12 points for head coach Dusty May's Owls.

The Owls knocked off their second SEC foe of the season on Thursday night, having already beaten Florida earlier this season and Florida Atlantic's 34 wins are currently the most in country (Houston, who has 33, plays in the Sweet 16 tomorrow). 

Conference USA continued its scintillating run through the postseason, as the league's teams are 14-1 across the NCAA Tournament (3-0), the NIT (both teams, North Texas and UAB are semifinalists), and the CBI (Charlotte claimed the tournament crown on Wednesday).