Tennessee basketball upset by Ole Miss 52-50: Three takeaways

Trailing 38-27 in the second half and 42-35 with under seven minutes to go, the Ole Miss Rebels went on an 11-0 run to take the lead and shock Tennessee basketball in Oxford, Miss. Tuesday night. UT had a chance to tie with under four seconds to go down by two but missed the first free throw and then missed a potential game-winning three-pointer as time expired.

In a matchup that saw Luis Rodriguez put on a highlight dunk after a steal and a fast break in the first half, the Vols had slow finished to both halves, which cost them the game. Ranked No. 11 in the AP Poll and No. 10 in the Coaches Poll, Rocky Top fell to 12-4 and 5-4 in the SEC. This was its first loss when Jaden Springer played at least five minutes.

Kermit Davis’ Rebs, meanwhile, improved to 9-8 and 4-6 in the SEC. Up next for Tennessee basketball is a trip to the Kentucky Wildcats Saturday night. Ole Miss will next visit the Auburn Tigers that day. Before looking ahead to that game, here are three things we learned from what happened at The Pavilion Tuesday night.

1. The Vols don’t know how to beat complex zone defenses.

Ironically, this scheme is part of why Dave Hart hired Donnie Tyndall, a Kermit Davis protege, to coach UT back in 2014. It’s just so effective. Davis waited to employ his 1-3-1 matchup zone at full strength until the second half, and Rick Barnes had no answer. Late in the second half, he added a half-court trap and that created all kinds of problems.

This issue is why the Vols had 16 turnovers on the night. They weren’t bad shooting the ball from outside, going 8-of-19 from the three-point line, but they were an abysmal 16-of-45 from the field overall. Simply put, on this night, they either turned the ball over, missed a shot in the paint or hit a three-pointer on offensive possessions. That was just awful.

2. Free throw shooting was the final nail.

While the inability of the young guards to figure out that zone defense was the main issue, the free throw shooting is what put Ole Miss over the hump. Tennessee basketball was 10-of-16 from the line, or 62.5 percent, and Springer himself, one of UT’s best offensive players, was 0-for-2 from the line. He also just went 1-of-7 from the field for two points, so he had an off-night.

At the end of the game, this issue proved costly. Keon Johnson, who actually had a solid night with 11 points and four assists, drew a shooting foul as UT trailed 51-49 with under four seconds. However, Johnson missed the first free throw. He made the second, but that set up Rocky Top needing a desperation three from Josiah-Jordan James, who had 10 points, at the end.

3. Defense was a saving grace.

If there’s one thing the Vols did right in this game, they defended well. Sure, they allowed 10 offensive rebounds and were outrebounded 37-30 on the night, but that’s because they played small most of the time. They had four blocks and forced 17 turnovers overall on the night. Ironically, Yves Pons was more efficient on the offensive end, with 13 points and no blocks.

Still, Tennessee basketball held Ole Miss to 39.2 percent from the field and 25 percent from three with those turnovers. They also forced a travel at the end of the game trailing 51-50 that the ref missed. That doesn’t matter, though. They made far too many other mistakes and deserved to lose this game.