STARKVILLE, Miss. — Tennessee basketball allowed an 18-0 second half run but avoided the complete collapse, hanging on to beat Mississippi State 73-64 in front of a sleepy Humphrey Coliseum crowd on Wednesday night. The Vols had few answers for Josh Hubbard but got enough offense inside to knock off the Bulldogs.
Here’s three quick takeaways on the victory.
Josh Hubbard vs. Tennessee
Star junior Josh Hubbard is option one, two, three for Mississippi State on offense. And he came out of the gates red-hot, propelling a bad Mississippi State offensive team to a strong start on that end.
In the game’s first 10 minutes, Hubbard scored 17 of Mississippi State’s 20 points as the Vols built just a three-point lead. Hubbard did it efficiently too, making seven of his first nine field goal attempts. It wasn’t like the Vols had a lot of defensive breakdowns either. Hubbard took advantage of a few optimal switches and got to the basket but he mostly hit contested shots over Tennessee’s defense.
Hubbard scored 20 of Mississippi State’s 28 first half points before scoring 31 of the Bulldogs’ 64 points in the game. Of course, that was not a sustainable offensive model. Hubbard eventually started missing some shots and Mississippi State was terrible in his brief time off the court. In the first half, Mississippi State was -11 with Hubbard off the court.
Tennessee was nearly the opposite. The Vols had eight players score in the first half while JP Estrella led the way with eight points. For the game, Tennessee had three players score in double-figures while none scored over 18 points.
Tennessee Opens It Up Around Halftime
The game was tied at 25-25 with 7:59 remaining in the first half. That’s when the well ran dry for Mississippi State and the Vols used an extended 12-0 run to take their first double-digit lead of the game. Even after the Bulldogs ended the run, Tennessee finished the half on a 14-3 run to take control of the game.
The Vols then came out of the halftime break and pushed the lead to double-digits. Tennessee opened the second half on an 11-2 run to take a 20-point lead less than four minutes into the second half. Ja’Kobi Gillespie, who scored just six points in a quiet first half, scored Tennessee’s first seven points in the second half.
Gillespie continued that hot-start into a big second half, finishing the game with a team-high 18 points as well as five assists with just one turnover.
Even when the game was tied, Tennessee seemed in control. But by outscoring the Bulldogs 25-5 in an 11-minute stretch around halftime, they put the game away.
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Tennessee Could Not Put The Game Away
Rick Barnes has often talked about this Tennessee team still searching to play a complete game. It looked like it might come against Mississippi State, but the Vols had another long scoring drought and a terrible stretch that made the game interesting.
The Vols led by 23 when Estrella made a pair of free throws with just over 10 minutes remaining. Tennessee would then go on a 5:16 scoring drought as Mississippi State used an 18-0 run to cut the Vols’ lead to just five points. During the stretch, Tennessee shot just zero-of-eight from the floor and had three turnover, two of which led to Mississippi State baskets.
Tennessee finally broke out of the funk with a Nate Ament and-one. It was a quiet night for Ament, but he scored eight points down the stretch including two tough and-ones to give the Vols the breathing room they were looking for. It was another good sign for Ament’s growth but disappointing that Tennessee wasn’t able to put the game away with a bit more ease.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee basketball is back in action Saturday night when it hosts LSU at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Venter for its dark mode game. Tipoff between the Vols and Tigers is at 6 p.m. ET. The SEC Network is broadcasting the game.
