Tennessee basketball: Vols handled the Bulldogs and move on to Kentucky

The Tennessee basketball team is moving on in the SEC Tournament with the 83-76 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Here are three takeaways from the game.

The No.3 seed Tennessee basketball team went into halftime with a 34-28 lead in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. They had 12 assists on 16 made field goals but had six turnovers to help Mississippi State stay in the game.

Even though it wasn’t Tennessee’s most consistent offensive halves, the Vols played well and clamped down on the defensive end. Mississippi State only scored 28 points at halftime and wasn’t shooting particularly well.

The back-to-back SEC Player of the Year led all Vols at the half with 12 points, but it was Kyle Alexander who was making the most impact with eight points on 4-for-6 from the field with four rebounds, three of them on the offensive end.

The second half was a lot of Mississippi State. The Bulldogs started the half shooting 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point line. That was until Tennessee went on a mini-run that you thought was going to put the game away.

Give credit to the Bulldogs, despite Admiral Schofield’s posterizing or “gifing” best dunk of the year. Sorry ESPN, Zion hasn’t done anything that comes close to that dunk.

The Vols ended up winning by seven points. Here are three takeaways from the game.

1. Offense play “their” game

We talked about how Auburn was able to get Tennessee to play their style of game. The Vols took 28 three-point shots against the Tigers, while only taking 33 shots from inside the arc. That’s not winning basketball.

Against the Bulldogs, Tennessee took much better shots and only attempted 11 three-point shots. The Vols connected on five shots from deep for 45.5 percent.

2. Kyle Alexander played AWESOME

Kyle Alexander played to the level we all know he can play at. The senior forward scored 16 points on 8-for-11 from the field and added nine rebounds. Seven were offensive boards which can’t go understated. Along with the scoring and rebounding, Alexander had one assist, three steals, and two blocks.

Alexander made his 100th career start tonight He’s the 12th Vol in program history to reach that milestone. He sure sold out with his performance.

3. Big minutes from Turner, Fulkerson, and Pons

Tennessee got positive minutes with John Fulkerson and Yves Pons on the floor at the same time. I still don’t love the rotations that allows them to be in game at the same time, but it worked tonight.

That stats show Fulkerson only pulled down three rebounds, but it felt like he was everywhere on the court. Pons didn’t show up on the stat sheet, but he didn’t hurt the Vols while he was in the game.

Now, let’s talk about Turner. I’ve been hard on him. It wasn’t hate, just dishing of the stats. It was never about his ability; it was just stats. However, Friday night against Mississippi State, Turner played really well. He let the game come to him and didn’t shoot the Vols out of a win. Turner dished out eight assists with four steals and three turnovers.

The Vols are back in after Saturday afternoon around 3:00 pm EST for round three against the Kentucky Wildcats.