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Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols 86-73 loss at Mississippi State

By Caleb Calhoun

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MARCH 28: Head coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after losing to the Purdue Boilermakers in overtime of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at the KFC YUM! Center on March 28, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MARCH 28: Head coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after losing to the Purdue Boilermakers in overtime of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at the KFC YUM! Center on March 28, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Back on the road, Tennessee basketball lost to the Mississippi State Bulldogs 86-73. Here are three things we learned about what happened to the Volunteers.

With combo guard Josiah-Jordan James hurt, Tennessee basketball lost its third straight game and its second straight SEC game. Coming off a loss at home to the Texas A&M Aggies, the Vols didn’t look any better on Saturday.

Rocky Top lost to the Mississippi State Bulldogs 86-73 in Starkville. Despite a six-point lead at halftime, a horrendous second half cost this team, which has fallen to 12-9 and 4-4 in league play amidst this losing streak.

With the win, Ben Howland’s team improved to 14-7 and 5-3 in the SEC, and they won for the fifth time in six games. Rick Barnes’ team will visit the Alabama Crimson Tide on Tuesday. Here are three takeaways from Tennessee basketball’s loss.

1. Second half defense was awful.

When you lead 34-28, you shouldn’t end up allowing 86 points in a game. Such was the case for the Vols. And it’s not because Mississippi State got red-hot shooting. They hit only five three-pointers. The problem was they were dominant in the paint, shooting 57 percent overall. UT was actually solid offensively, but they let the Bulldogs dominate in the second half. That cost them.

2. Rebounding once again proved costly.

It’s hard to figure out what’s happening, but for the second straight game, Tennessee basketball was atrocious on the boards. They went more for size in this game as well, with Uros Plavsic and John Fulkerson both starting. But MSU had one more offensive rebound and outrebounded them overall 36-24. That is not typical of a team that Rick Barnes coaches.

3. Younger role players stepped up offensively.

With Josiah-Jordan James out, which is not an excuse given the other two issues we pointed out, one positive is how younger players stepped up. Uros Plavsic struggled with defense and rebounding, but he had 16 points. Santiago Vesovi looked like a true point guard with 16 points and five assists. And Jalen Johnson hit three three-pointers and had 13. So this was a real positive.

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