OXFORD — Ole Miss had oh-so-many chances Wednesday to knock off No. 7 Tennessee.
A week after losing at home to lowly North Alabama, the Rebels were all one of the Southeastern Conference’s leading contenders wanted and more.
However, the Rebels simply couldn’t get shots to fall in the final minutes, allowing Tennessee to prevail, 63-59.
Santiago Vescovi led Tennessee with 22 points. Zakai Ziegler added 13.
Jaemyn Brakefield had 18 points to lead Ole Miss. Amaree Abram added 10.
Tennessee improved to 11-2 overall and 1-0 in the SEC. Ole Miss fell to 8-5 overall and 0-1 in the league.
“We played hard enough and we guarded well enough to win for sure,” Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis said. “We competed our tail off. I thought we got some great, great, great looks at the end around the goal and some others that didn’t go in. …We didn’t make the plays at the end.”
Trailing by just three points, Matthew Murrell missed a wide-open corner-3 inside the final two minutes.
Ole Miss forced a miss but couldn’t garner the rebound. Seconds later, Murrell fouled Ziegler at the end of the shot clock. Zeigler made both free throws to push Tennessee’s lead to five points with 1:10 left.
Daeshun Ruffin knocked down a 3-pointer 10 seconds later to pull Ole Miss to within 59-57. An offensive foul on Oliver Nkamhoua gave Ole Miss the basketball with 44.2 seconds left. Ruffin’s 3-pointer on the Rebels’ ensuing possession rimmed out.
Ziegler got two free throws on the other end to push Tennessee’s lead to 61-57 with 29.8 seconds left. Amaree Abram turned the ball over on Ole Miss’ next trip and then committed a foul, sending Vescovi to the free throw line and many of the Rebels’ fans to the exits.
“At the end, we had great chances,” Davis said. “Tough loss for us for sure. …We missed 19 A-range shots against North Alabama. No offense against North Alabama but they’re obviously not Tennessee. We ran two set plays for Theo (Akwuba), who I thought played his tail off. He missed two right at the rim. We ran a couple of plays for Matt, and it was one of those nights. Matt wants to win more than anyone in our locker room. I know that. The disappointing thing was no rebounds. He has to affect the game in other ways some nights.”
Vescovi made both free throws with 19 seconds left, giving Tennessee a six-point lead. Ruffin’s free throw with 11.3 seconds left pulled Ole Miss to within 63-59.
Vescovi missed two free throws with 11 seconds left, but Tye Fagan’s 3-point attempt hit nothing, letting the Volunteers escape with a road victory.
“I thought our guys executed some things but it wasn’t our night and didn’t go down,” Davis said.
“It’s tough,” Brakefield said. “We work on those plays every day in practice. We give it to the guys that we trust and we know in the future that they’re going to hit them. We trust everyone.”
Tennessee, down six at halftime, pulled even with 13:44 left on Ziegler’s layup. Brakefield answered with a 3-pointer 25 seconds later to give Ole Miss a 3-point lead. Vescovi responded with a 3-pointer of his own and a sloppy second half suddenly got fun.
The Volunteers and Rebels began trading baskets, as both teams ratcheted up the intensity on both ends of the floor.
Tennessee took its first lead since early in the first half on Nkamhoua’s turnaround jumper with 10:24 left, prompting Davis to take another timeout to half the Volunteers’ momentum.
Another 3-pointer from Brakefield pulled Ole Miss to within 52-51 with 5:01 left. Tennessee answered quickly with a drive from Jonas Aidoo to push Tennessee back to a three-point advantage. A Myles Burns free throw cut the Volunteers’ advantage to 54-52.
Ole Miss built a 10-point lead midway through the first half by virtue of playing their best 12 minutes of basketball this season. The Rebels were 10-for-17 from the floor and 4-for-7 from the 3-point line during that stretch.
More importantly, the Rebels really dialed up their defensive intensity in the first half. Active hands deflected passes. Defenders jumped into passing lanes. Switches were pure. Tennessee, playing without injured star forward Josiah-Jordan James, struggled to find offensive flow. Twice in the first 15 minutes, the Volunteers committed shot-clock violations. On several other occasions, Tennessee was forced to take wild, undisciplined shots at the end of the shot clock.
Tennessee clawed back late in the first half. Vescovi’s 3-pointer with 3:31 left pulled the Volunteers to within 32-28, forcing an Ole Miss timeout.
The final stanza of the first half was just sloppy, as Abram’s layup with 2:05 left before halftime marked the only points. The Rebels led, 34-28, at intermission.
Ole Miss shot just 37 percent from the floor Wednesday and just 32 percent from the 3-point line. The Rebels had just seven assists.
Tennessee shot 43 percent from the floor and made just three of 15 shots from behind the arc. However, the Vols won second-chance points, 16-8, and made five more free throws than the Rebels.
Observations/notes:
— Brakefield’s lack of explosive athleticism showed up a critical juncture. Down four, Ole Miss found the Duke transfer under the basket with 6:45 left. Twice, Brakefield’s shot was blocked. Ultimately, Tennessee came away with the basketball and called a timeout with 6:37 left to discuss things. That’s not a knock on Brakefield and it's worth noting the Vols are very good down low. Brakefield's basketball IQ is high. He understands the game and was huge for Ole Miss on Wednesday. It’s just sometimes his body can’t do what his mind tells him to do.
— Along those lines, Ole Miss has to get more from Murrell. It’s as simple as that. On Wednesday, Murrell scored just five points, making just one of his 11 shots from the field. Murrell was 1-for-9 from behind the 3-point line. He added three rebounds before fouling out.
“He’s going to bounce back,” Brakefield said. “He’s going to come back and play his hardest.”
— It’s a legitimate criticism to question Ole Miss’ recruiting in the low post. On Wednesday, facing Tennessee’s deep front court, the Rebels struggled. Jayveous McKinnis had five points and four rebounds in 14 minutes. Akwuba was solid for the most part, getting six points and five rebounds. Malique Ewin played just seven minutes, five more than Robert Allen’s two. Tennessee out-rebounded the Rebels, 38-28, and won in points in the paint, 30-20.
— Ole Miss travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., Tuesday to face another nationally-ranked opponent, Alabama. Tipoff at Coleman Coliseum is scheduled for 8 p.m. on the SEC Network.
“We know they’re a top-10, top-5 team,” Brakefield said. “We’re going to watch film from this and we really can learn. We’re not going to hang our head. We’re gong to continue to build each and every day. We’ve got a while until we play Alabama and we know it’s going to be these type of games each and every night. We’re going to continue to prepare like we’ve been doing and I’m sure it’s going to change for sure.”
