OXFORD, Miss. – The top two scoring defenses in the Southeastern Conference put on a clinic Tuesday evening.
Late heroics and a lockdown zone defense allowed Ole Miss to erase an 11-point second half deficit and upset the No. 10 ranked Tennessee Volunteers 52-50 at The Pavilion.
"We played against such a tough and well-coached team," Ole Miss head coach Kermit Davis said. "Down the stretch, we made some game-winning plays. It was just a whole group effort, and I'm just so happy to see this team taste that victory against a top-10 ranked team."
The Rebels (9-8, 4-6 SEC) shot 39 percent (20 of 51) from the floor and dominated the paint battle with a 30-10 advantage. Defensively, Ole Miss forced Tennessee (12-4, 5-4 SEC) to shoot 36 percent (16 of 45) and go 1-14 from the field during the final 13 minutes of play.
The Volunteers went more than 12 minutes without making a bucket, only finding some success at the charity stripe. Ole Miss improved to 8-0 when forcing teams to shoot under 40 percent from the floor. The Rebels forced 16 turnovers, eight of them steals. Devontae Shuler led the way with 15 points (7 of 17), 11 of which coming in the second half, to go along with a game-high seven rebounds. Romello White added 14 points (5 of 9) while Luis Rodriguez and Jarkel Joiner each scored seven. At the free throw line, Ole Miss shot 64 percent (9 of 14) while Tennessee shot 63 percent (10 of 16), both of which proved crucial down the stretch in a defensive slugfest throughout the 40 minutes.
The Vols forced turnovers on each of Ole Miss' first two possessions thanks to tight man-to-man defense as both teams traded blows. Three different Volunteers found the scoreboard early as they led 9-5. White converted a contested basket while Rodriguez got the game's first three-pointer to give Ole Miss its first lead of the night. The Rebels proceeded to overcome a slow shooting start, including a poster, one-handed jam from Rodriguez, but Tennessee continued to make buckets as they maintained a five-point lead with 11:17 left in the first half.
Both squads faced an over two minute scoring drought as Tennessee had a 23-15 lead with 7:58 left in the half. The Vols were shooting 5 of 7 from beyond the arc at that point, while Matthew Murrell owned both of Ole Miss' three-point baskets. Back-to-back three-pointers gave Tennessee its first double digit lead of the game, but Ole Miss turned up the dial defensively to force a 5:12 scoring drought as Joiner's jump shot at the first half buzzer made it a 28-23 deficit going into the locker room.
The Rebels shot 42 percent (10 of 24) from the field with 14 points coming from the paint. White led Ole Miss at the break with six points on 3 of 5 shooting with Rodriguez not far behind with five points and a team high three assists. Shuler had four rebounds to go along with his four points.
Coming out of the half, Joiner scored the first four points to make it a one-possession game in a blink on an eye. However, Tennessee struck back with a 10-0 run to take a 38-27 lead. Over the next six minutes, the Rebels chipped away at the deficit to get within five with just under 10 minutes remaining. The Rebels used their patented 1-3-1 defense, along with a 2-3 zone, to get within a point Tennessee, 42-41, with 5:53 left. A second chance putback by Shuler, and a three-pointer on the following possession gave Ole Miss its first lead of the second half. The margin increased to 46-42 with 3:42 left to play after an 11-0 run. The Vols responded with four consecutive free throws to tie the game, but were still riding a field goal drought. A free throw from Robert Allen and steal-and-score from Shuler gave Ole Miss a 49-46 lead with 1:05 on the clock. After a putback basket from Allen, Tennessee's Keon Johnson answered with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to two with 40.9 left to play.
After being fouled with 3.5 seconds left, Johnson went 1 of 2 from the free throw line, keeping Ole Miss in front by one. After Tennessee was forced to foul, Allen split free throws on the other end of the floor. Tennessee raced down the floor to try and get a good look, but a desperation three-point heave from from Josiah Jordan-James fell short as the Rebels successfully defended their home court.
It's a short time spent at home before Ole Miss hits the road again. The Rebels head to Auburn (Feb. 6), their third road game over a two-week stretch, looking to complete the season sweep of the Tigers. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
TIP-INS:
Ole Miss picked up its third top 15 win under Kermit Davis.
The Rebels snapped a five-game losing skid to the Volunteers.
Tennessee became the fifth Ole Miss opponent to score 50 points or less this season.
The Rebels improved to 8-0 when limiting opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the field.
Ole Miss kept Tennessee without a field goal from 13:09 in the second half to 42 seconds left in the game, a span of 12:27.
The Rebels forced at least 15 turnovers for the 14th time this season.
Ole Miss held Tennessee to 5 of 20 (25.0 percent) in the second half.
The Rebels outscored the Vols 30-10 in the paint.
Romello White's14 points were his most in a game since scoring 20 in the SEC opener at Alabama (Dec. 29).
Luis Rodriguez produced his 12th multi-steal game of the season, including his third straight.
Robert Allenproduced his fourth consecutive multi-steal game.
Tonight was Ole Miss' first single digit win of the season.
