Tennessee advances past Ole Miss in SEC Tournament, 70-55

NASHVILLE — Tennessee didn’t earn the double-bye in the SEC Tournament as one of the league’s top four teams, but the Vols earned their way back to Friday’s quarterfinal round and a rematch with Missouri after a 70-55 win over Ole Miss Thursday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena.

Tennessee (23-9) got a team-high 20 points from Josiah-Jordan James and 15 more from Santiago Vescovi, as the senior duo combined to go 7-for-21 from the 3-point line. Olivier Nkamhoua had nine points and four assists and Julian Phillips scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds. Vescovi added six rebounds and three assists.

The Vols and Missouri, the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament bracket, both finished with 11-7 records in SEC play, but Mizzou held the tiebreaker thanks to its 86-85 win at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 11.

Ole Miss (12-21) got 14 points from Myles Burns and 12 from Jaemyn Brakefield. Matthew Murrell scored nine of his 12 points in the second half.

Tennessee turned a six-point deficit in the first half into a six-point lead at halftime after closing the half on a 10-2 run. James started the second half with two free throws and then a corner three, building Tennessee’s lead to 11 as he got up to 16 points in the opening minute of the half. 

The five quick points from James after halftime made it a 15-2 run for the Vols.

Tennessee 11-point lead was trimmed to four after Ole Miss ripped off a 7-0 run in just 54 seconds but the Vols responded with a Julian Phillips bucket with 12:04 left. 

Vescovi stretched the lead to 12 with a pair of free throws with 8:13 left, giving him 13 points, and Phillips made it a 14-point advantage on two free throws 34 seconds later.

Tennessee shot 55.5% from field, 46.7% from 3-point line in first half

It was a 39-33 Tennessee lead at halftime after James hit a corner three to beat the buzzer. It gave James 11 points in the half, after he shot 4-for-6 from the field and 3-for-5 from the 3-point line.

The Vols as a team in the first half shot 55.2 percent (16-29) from the field and 46.7 percent (7-15) from the 3-point line. Vescovi had eight points in the opening half, going 2-for-6 from three, and Nkamhoua scored seven. Julian Phillips and Jonas Aidoo scored four each. 

Ole Miss got 12 from Burns in the first half and eight from Jaemyn Brakefield, while Matthew Murrell finished with three points on 1-for-6 shooting from the floor.

The Rebels led 25-19 after a Murrell corner three with 9:37 left in the first half, but the Vols answered with an 8-0 run over the next 1:19 to retake the lead. The six-point advantage at halftime was Tennessee’s biggest of the first half.

Up Next: Tennessee vs. Missouri, Friday, 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN

Tennessee will face Missouri on Friday afternoon, scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN. The Vols lost 86-85 to Mizzou on February 11 at Thompson-Boling Arena after DeAndre Gholston hit a long, running 3-pointer as time expired.

Missouri, which finished with an 11-7 record in SEC play, got the double-bye into Friday’s quarterfinal round as one of the top four seeds, holding the tiebreaker over Tennessee thanks to the head-to-head result. 

Tennessee trailed by 17 points with 17 minutes left against Missouri in February, but rallied frantically to erase the deficit and build what was as much as a six-point lead, before Mizzou had the final answer as time expired.