Tennessee Basketball: 5 Takeaways from Vols’ Strong Finish to Beat Ole Miss 75-66

Tennessee basketball had a strong finish in a 75-66 win over the Ole Miss Rebels Wednesday night. Here are five takeaways from the Volunteers’ victory.

They jumped out to a fast start, but Tennessee basketball fell behind to the Ole Miss Rebels midway through the first half.

And despite every comeback they made, Andy Kennedy’s team had an answer until just over two minutes left in the game, when the Vols took a 66-64 lead off of a Robert Hubbs III layup. Tennessee finished the game on an 18-4 run.

With the win, Rick Barnes’s team moves to 14-10 on the year and 6-5 in the SEC, and the Rebels fall to 14-10 on the year as well with a 5-6 SEC record.

At the same time, the Vols were able to get back on track after blowing a 19-point lead to the Mississippi State Bulldogs this past Saturday and losing to the Rebels in Oxford earlier in the year.

Here are five takeaways from Tennessee basketball’s victory.

1. Defense was amazing in all areas.

This was the biggest part of Tennessee basketball’s win. The Vols held the Rebels to 34 percent shooting from the field. At the same time, they forced 18 turnovers. In fact, Ole Miss relied on extremely efficient free throw shooting to get to 66 points.

Then came the final five minutes, when the defense came through. As we mentioned, the Vols finished the game on an 18-4 run. Defense set up many of those points, and it also held the Rebels to four points. That was the story of the game. But it’s not the only story.

2. The offense learned to adjust to different defensive schemes.

One of the biggest reasons the Vols could not take a lead every time they closed in on the Rebels is because Andy Kennedy would brilliantly switch up his defense. He went from a man-to-man to a perimeter zone and back to a man-to-man. And it would catch the Vols off-guard.

But a Tennessee basketball team loaded with freshmen took a huge step under Rick Barnes. They were able to break the Rebels’ perimeter zone eventually, and Kennedy was stuck playing man-to-man the rest of the game. It didn’t work, and that’s why the Vols had such a strong finish. How they beat the zone is what goes to our next point.

3. Tennessee’s guards are playing more unselfish by the day.

Rick Barnes has a perfect point guard rotation now going from Jordan Bone to Lamonte Turner. Together they had nine assists. But Turner is more of a combo guard, so he added 9 points in scoring off the bench with some very efficient play.

Meanwhile, Jordan Bowden is a combo guard who starts with Bone, and he was able to add 12 points and four assists. He also hustled big with seven rebounds. It was the passing of these guys that helped the Vols beat that perimeter zone, something very impressive for a group of freshmen. But then their primary scorer got involved. We have to mention him next.

4. Robert Hubbs III can do everything and score out of any sets.

Over the past few weeks, Robert Hubbs III added rebounding as an element to his game. This time, with Ole Miss switching up their defense, he was a bit limited with his aggression under the basket on the offensive side. So he swapped his rebounding for his passing. Hubbs finished with four assists on the night, making brilliant passes to help break Ole Miss’s defense. And then he became the scorer.

When Ole Miss went to man-to-man, Hubbs switched from being the passer to the scorer, and he reverted back to his post-up defense. He finished the game with 18 points on a very efficient 5-of-9 shooting night, and he also managed to be aggressive in transition, drawing fouls. As a result, he nailed 8 out of 10 free throws as well. So while playing hurt, according to Barnes, Hubbs was still the star. But he’s getting more and more help from another guy.

3. Grant Williams continues to emerge as the elite big man.

He’s really a point forward while Kyle Alexander adds the size, but Grant Williams was the star of the game Wednesday night with 20 points and seven rebounds. Williams went 7-of-12 from the field and played aggressive and big all night, which was a big reason the Vols could break Kennedy’s perimeter zone.

His only issue was going 6-of-11 from the free throw line, but all-in-all, he was the main guy scoring out of the half-court sets. He deserves credit for that, as do the guards for feeding him when Ole Miss went to a zone. And with Hubbs scoring, this became a complete win in the end.