STARKVILLE, Miss. — Tennessee’s search for a complete 40 minutes of basketball looked good through 30 minutes in its 73-64 win over Mississippi State Wednesday night. The Vols led by 23 points and was cruising to a bounce back victory.
But the Vols could not make it as easy as it looked like they would. Mississippi State went on an 18-0 run to cut Tennessee’s lead to five points with five minutes to play. The score never got closer as Tennessee pushed its lead back to as many as 13 points, but a worrisome trend continued for Tennessee.
“I said, ‘How do we let that happen?’” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes pondered postgame. “We just went through a period where I thought we let up. … And it goes back to concentration and not getting relaxed. And that kind of has been the story of our team. We get a lead and we start doing those things.”
There were a multitude of issues in the 4:59 where Mississippi State crawled back into the game. The Vols had a lack in concentration at times on the defensive end. The offensive issues were more glaring, missing eight straight field goals while thrice turning it over. Two of the turnovers turned into easy Mississippi State baskets.
“Messed up a couple ball screen situations on defense,” Tennessee forward JP Estrella said. “We had a couple mental breakdowns. We talked about it. Lock in afterwards. In those situations, we’ve got to make sure we put it away when the time comes. We got to keep pounding, pounding, pounding just with energy.”
“I think it’s a little more frustration for us because it has been a common theme with this group,” Tennessee wing Nate Ament told RTI postgame. “Get up early, be a good first half team and then kind of die down and stuff like that. I feel like, just for us, we need to continue to put our foot on the gas.”
If it was a one-game occurrence, it would be tempting to not give the careless stretch a second thought on a sleepy Wednesday night at Humphrey Coliseum. But not only was it not a one off, but Tennessee was just a game removed from blowing a 14-point halftime lead at Kentucky.
More From RTI: Everything Rick Barnes Said After Tennessee Defeated Mississippi State
On one hand, this is a young team playing a half dozen players with very little college basketball experience. They have grown over the course of the season and will mature as they play more basketball. But on the other hand, the bad stretches due to a lack of concentration are still happening too often with the calendar turned to February.
That left a bad taste in Tennessee’s mouth following what was an overall strong performance in a bounce back road victory.
“It is (worrisome),” Barnes said. “Because they’re saying and we’re talking about all the right things in the huddle. But it’s one thing coming out. But you can’t, like, Nate (Ament) got to it taken away from him. Troy (Henderson) got it taken away from him out there. Fe (Felix Okpara) doesn’t understand what we’re trying to do one time, and it gets us discombobulated. Just things like that.”
There were still good signs in the victory. Tennessee did a lot of good in building its 23-point lead. Once Mississippi State cut the Vols’ lead to five, Nate Ament emerged. It was a quiet night for the red-hot freshman, but he scored eight of his 16 points in the final five minutes as Tennessee regained control. That is, yet again, another positive development for the fast rising freshman.
However, the Vols still leave Starkville looking for the complete 40 minutes they have been searching for in SEC play.
“I think just staying mentally tough,” Estrella said. “Limit the turnovers. Like mental breakdowns, I feel like sometimes at the end we were trying to figure out a play and they got a steal and a dunk out of that. Just little things like that, picking that stuff up. Once we figure that stuff out, I feel like 40 minutes, we’ll be able to put together.”
