The No. 5 Tennessee Vols (11-3) and Mississippi Bulldogs (11-3) had a battle of the defenses in Starkville, Mississippi. Tennessee was looking to capitalize on Purdue and Houston falling on Tuesday night but came up short after a remarkable second half rally. 

The Bulldogs dominated in the first half

The Bulldogs came out strong, holding the Vols to just 11 points in the first ten minutes of the game. The Vols went 4-15 on field goals and 2-10 from deep. The Bulldogs fared a little better against Tennessee’s stingy defense going 5-11 on field goals and 1-4 behind the 3-point line. 

The Vols went 5 minutes without scoring a basket before Dalton Knecht hit a jumper at the 8:24 mark. The Bulldogs struck back and went on a run with Hubbard hitting three monstrous 3’s to put the Bulldogs up 35 - 22 at the half. The Vols were ice cold from 3-point land, hitting only 2 for a paltry 15.4%. The Bulldogs’ smothering defense nabbed 7 steals and forced 10 overall turnovers. The Bulldogs were on a scoring tear in the first half, hitting a whopping 50% of their field goals, and 44.4% at the 3-point line.

Both Tolu Smith and Josh Hubbard led the Bulldogs at the half with 12 points each, but Hubbard was electric in the last ten minutes off the bench. The Vols were led by Zakai Zeigler with 10 points. 

The Rally

Zeigler and Knecht literally put the whole offense on their back and came out shooting in the second half. Knecht was unguardable, knocking down back-to-back threes, and adding a steal to set up Zeigler for another 3-pointer, which made it a 3-point game. Knecht only had two points in the first half but went crazy in the second scoring 26 points and sinking four 3-pointers. Knecht ended the night with 28 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Zeigler carried his momentum from the first half and finished with 26 points, 7 assists, and 3 steals. 

The Vols defense got back to form forcing 16 turnovers in the second half. 12 of those were steals that resulted in buckets. The defense was relentless in the second half. It felt like every other Bulldog possession resulted in a steal and the Vols tied the game on four different occasions. But, ultimately, the Vols’ defense couldn’t hold the Bulldog offense down long enough to take the lead. The Bulldogs still made 50% of their field goals and 33% of their threes. The Bulldogs ultimately downed the No. 5 Volunteers at home and improved to 1-1 in the SEC and 12-3 overall. Tennessee is also 1-1 in the SEC but fell to 11-4 overall. 

What’s next?

The Vols hit the road and play in Georgia on Saturday night. The Vols need to improve on their sluggish first-half starts or this could be their Achilles heel come March.