Birmingham, AL -- (Sports Network) - Wayne Chism scored 16 points, including the go-ahead basket in overtime, as Tennessee picked up a thrilling 76-71 win over Butler in the second round out of the East Region of the NCAA Tournament.

Tyler Smith posted 15 points and eight rebounds, and JaJuan Smith scored 11 for the second-seeded Volunteers (31-4), who will play third-seeded Louisville in the Sweet 16 on Thursday in Charlotte. Chris Lofton and J.P. Prince each tallied nine points, while Prince added seven boards and five assists.

"We're very pleased to have survived and advance," said Vols coach Bruce Pearl. "We're about to head to a place we have been before and we've not been able to go past and that is to get to the Elite 8."

A.J. Graves scored a game-high 21 for the Bulldogs (30-4). Mike Green added 15 points, seven boards and five assists for Butler, while Pete Campbell was held to 12 points after his 26-point eruption in Butler's first-round win over South Alabama.

Lofton buried a long three 1:10 into overtime, giving Tennessee a 66-63 lead. Green responded with a shot from beyond the arc of his own, forcing a 66-66 deadlock with 2:57 to go.

After Chism missed a pair of free throws, Graves drove and released a runner that rattled into the basket to give Butler its first lead of the game, 68-66, with 1:45 left.

Ramar Smith responded with a runner to tie the game, and Chism's layup with 53 seconds left put the Vols ahead by two. Tyler Smith swatted away Graves' running layup, and after a timeout the Vols broke Butler's full-court pressure when Lofton found Ramar Smith for a layup and a four point edge with 26.6 seconds to play.

"Chris got the ball and I just tried to run the wing," Ramar Smith said. "He got it to me and my main focus with to get the ball up on the rim and score."

Campbell responded with a layup to cut the lead to 72-70 with 16.3 ticks left, but JaJuan Smith made four straight free throws down the stretch to cement Tennessee's trip to the second weekend.

"It was a great college basketball game between two pretty darn good teams," said Butler coach Brad Stevens. "And we came out on the short end, but due to no, certainly both teams played valiantly and played with terrific effort. And I think it was just a game of inches on a lot of occasions."

The Vols won despite committing 20 turnovers, including seven from Tyler Smith and six from Prince, that allowed Butler to rally in the second half.

The Bulldogs closed the gap to 54-51 after Willie Veasley's layup with 7:41 on the clock. After trading baskets, Green drained a pair of free throws to pull within 56-55 with 5:49 to go.

Prince responded with a slam to push the Vols' lead back to three, and after a free throw cut the lead to two, Tyler Smith drained a pair at the line for a 60-56 Tennessee edge with 3:10 to play.

Graves hit two from the charity stripe to bring Butler within 60-58, and after a defensive stop, Graves drew a foul on JaJuan Smith and converted two more from the line to force a tie with a little more than 2 1/2 minutes to play.

Chism provided the answer for the Vols, hitting a lefty hook shot to put Tennessee ahead 62-60, and after Drew Streicher missed an open layup, Tyler Smith made 1-of-2 at the line for a 63-60 lead with 1:23 left.

Green drew a foul on Butler's next possession and made 1-of-2 at the line, bringing the Bulldogs within two with 1:09 remaining. Prince turned the ball over on the Vols next possession, and Veasley tipped in Green's miss on the other end of the court to force a 63-63 tie with under 40 seconds to play.

After a timeout, Prince was whistled for traveling with 4.1 seconds to go, giving the Bulldogs the ball with a chance to win. Green took the inbounds pass and sprinted up the right side of the court, but was tightly defended by Prince and lost the ball as regulation time expired.

The Vols came out firing on all cylinders, opening the game on a 13-2 run. Butler fought back into contention and got as close as one in the waning seconds, but Lofton's three in the final moments sent the Vols to intermission with a 38-34 lead.

Tennessee again came out strong in the second half, opening up a 46-38 edge on Ramar Smith's layup with a little more than four minutes gone. The Bulldogs closed the gap to three with five straight points, and the teams went back- and-forth throughout the middle portion of the second half.

Game Notes

Tennessee shot 44.1 percent from the field and held Butler to 36.1 percent shooting...The Vols reached the Sweet 16 for the second straight year. Tennessee lost to eventual national runner-up Ohio State in the semifinals of the South Region in 2007...Butler came up just short of its second straight trip to the Sweet 16. The Bulldogs beat Old Dominion and Maryland before getting bounced by eventual national champion Florida last year.