The old dog came up with some new tricks.

Rick Barnes made defensive adjustments that curtailed Houston’s attack and led to a dramatic 76-73 Tennessee upset of the Cougars in the second round of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.

It was a hard-fought, rough-and-tumble victory. Officially, it was just physical. Unofficially, under the goals and elsewhere from time to time, it was almost football without pads.

This was a meaningful win for the 7-0 Vols. Houston was ranked No. 3 in the country. Houston was up by 11 in the first half. Houston went seven and a half minutes without scoring in the second half.

Tennessee rallied late in the first half, trailed by four at intermission and surged ahead at 47-45 on a J.P. Estrella basket. Twelve and a half minutes remained. The Vols never lost the lead.

Winners get the headlines. Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 22. He did not shoot well from the floor but he hit a clutch three and nine of nine free throws – six when they really mattered.

This was Jaylen Carey’s kind of game. He is 6-8 and 267 and nobody is going to push him around. He had seven rebounds in a vital reserve role. He beat the Cougars to a missed free throw and put it in. He powered in a layup off a Gillespie feed in the closing minute. He helped win the game.

Forward J.P. Estrella #13 scored 10 points without missing a shot.

Estrella, fighting back from a bruised knee, played 13 minutes, grabbed five rebounds, played defense and scored 10 points without missing a shot.

Sophomore guard Bishop Boswell was a hustle star at both ends of the floor. He was the best defender. He had four rebounds, three assists and three steals. He played the point some to give Gillespie more shooting opportunities.

“Bishop Boswell impacted that game,” said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson. “That kid is a winner. He was the toughest guy on the floor.”

Sampson complimented Tennessee’s inside strength.

Sophomore guard Bishop Boswell #3 was the “hustle star” at both ends of the floor.

“You can tell Carey has a high basketball IQ. He’s a playmaker. He’s huge, thick, but he’s also smart. How do you pronounce Okpara? (First name is Felix). Okpara, Estrella, and Carey, those three guys are men.”

Guard Amaree Abram isn’t as big but he contributed to the success. Freshman Nate Ament had a hard time. He missed seven of eight field-goal tries but made seven of eight free throws. He lost time because of fouls.

Sampson had a lot to say about free throws. Tennessee hit 23 of 29 and Houston made eight of 11.

“We have a good team. It’s not like we got beat by 20 … the free-throw line was the difference tonight … look how many free throws they shot, 29. We shot 11.

“Tennessee is physical. They’re really good defensively. They’re physical. One team shot 29, the other team shot 11.”

Houston had little choice but to foul as Tennessee protected the late lead. In the closing 35 seconds, Boswell hit two free throws and Gillespie hit six.

Top Cougar Emanuel Sharp sat out most of the first half in foul trouble but didn’t say a word about fouls or free throws. He said Tennessee was the tougher team.

“They made the tougher plays. They made more winning plays. That’s pretty much it.”

Barnes didn’t say anything about fouls or free throws.

“Everybody had heard the chatter that we hadn’t played anybody, but we had. We had a great scrimmage against Ohio State and then we had a great exhibition game against Duke. We knew after both of those that if we could continue to grow that we had a chance.

“We’ve got a group of guys that really like each other. They work hard. They work hard every day. More and more guys are starting to understand their roles.

“We started this game and missed some shots that we feel like we need to make, but at no point did these guys stop believing … I thought they figured it out themselves.”

Next: Tennessee will play tonight at 7 against Kansas for third place in the tournament. Michigan will meet Gonzaga at 9 for the title. Both games will be on TNT.

Pairings were supposedly based on overall records, point differential, points scored and points allowed, Associated Press ranking and maybe TV appeal.

Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com