Tennessee Basketball: Three Takeaways from Vols’ Win Over Mississippi State Bulldogs

Tennessee basketball got a huge momentum boost with an 80-75 victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Here are three takeaways from the Volunteers’ win.

It was bound to happen. Between Tennessee and Mississippi State, somebody was going to have to win in the second half. And Rick Barnes’s Vols managed to be that team.

Related Story: Tennessee-Mississippi State Victory Recap

Despite almost blowing another substantial second-half lead, the Vols managed to hold on and pull out their first road victory of the season to move to 2-3 in the SEC and 9-8 overall.

A career night from Detrick Mostella and double-figures from all four starting guards led to a huge victory.

Perhaps this is a jump over a mental hump facing the Vols. Perhaps it’s just a fluke as they took advantage of another team that struggles in the second half.

But what is clear is that between two legendary coaches in both of their first years at new schools, Barnes got the best of Ben Howland.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

1. Kevin Punter is Learning to Play Point Guard

As a combo guard making the toughest transition in all of basketball, Kevin Punter continues to get better at playing the point guard position. And he finally showed that against Mississippi State on Saturday.

Punter went up against an athletic team with a solid size advantage under a head coach known for his defensive strategies. And without Armani Moore to play the point-forward, he kept the offense under control. Despite three turnovers, he picked up five assists, managed to take over when needed in the second half with aggression to get 23 points, and was perfect from the free throw line.

So even with an off-shooting night, Punter managed to find ways to keep the offense going, and he was able to beat Mississippi State’s press late in the second half consistently to keep the lead for the Vols.

2. Size Continues to Not be the Issue

The Vols were missing their best big man, Admiral Schofield was back to looking like a freshman, they got out-rebounded 40 to 31, and they could not stop Gavin Ware underneath the basket.

But the aggression of Rick Barnes’s basketball team and their solid perimeter shooting, along with their perimeter defense, helped to neutralize everything Mississippi State could do. In other games where they’ve out-rebounded their opponents, they have lost.

This game provided the perfect blueprint for Tennessee to win SEC games this year even with a size disadvantage: create chaos, remain controlled on offense, play good perimeter defense, and hit enough outside shots.

More volunteers: Time to Put Lady Vols Coach Holly Warlick on the Hot Seat

3. Tennessee Can Handle Tempo 

This is something that would come across as a bit odd given the fact that Rick Barnes stresses an up-tempo style with his players. But something that can happen too often is that a team that plays up-tempo can’t handle other teams that play up-tempo.

Sure, Mostella’s 24 points helped, and this is partially due to Punter learning the position, as we already mentioned, but it is still important to mention that every time Mississippi State tried to turn up the tempo on the Vols, they extended the lead.

Tennessee consistently beat the press whenever the Bulldogs got desperate and would extend their lead in the process. For that, they should be acknowledged.