KNOXVILLE—Ole Miss came into Knoxville without a victory in Thompson-Boling Arena in 22 years. That mattered little in their 94-72 route of the Vols. With the victory the Rebels moved to 13-2 while the Vols fell to 8-5. The Rebels are now winners on their last four contests while the Tennessee is on a two-game home losing streak.

Richardson drives to the bucket against the Rebels.
Photo by Reed Carringer

One key to the game coming into tonight was how Tennessee managed to defend Marshall Henderson. He entered the contest averaging 18.2 points per game and the Vols never managed to slow him down. Henderson had 10 points at the half and finished the night with 32 points on 8-19 shooting, making 13 of his 14 free throw attempts. In fact Ole Miss attempted 44 free throws on the night on the way to outscoring Tennessee by 21 points from the charity stripe. The teams both made 25 field goals, while the Vols outscored the Rebels from beyond the arc by nine points.

Ole Miss was the aggressor throughout the night. Early in the game, the Rebel press and trapping defense gave the Vols trouble. At the half, the Rebels were outscoring the Vols by 10 at the line and led 38-30. Stokes led the Vols into the break with 10 points and McRae, fresh off his 26 point effort against Memphis, had 7.

The visitors consistently led by double-digits for the first six minutes of the second half. Much like the Memphis game, the Vols then made their run. Makanjoula and McRae each made a pair for free-throws for the Vols on consecutive possessions. McRae then followed a McBee steal with a 3
to bring the crowd back to life and cut the Rebel lead to just five points. Vol point guard Trae Golden (7 points, 3-10 shooting) picked up his fourth foul with 11:40 to play and the Vols never seriously challenged Ole Miss thereafter. Rebel coach Andy Kennedy praised his team’s effort.

“I was proud of my guys, they came out and were very aggressive. When I look at the stat sheet, I see we’re plus-15 on the glass, which never happens to a Tennessee team. We scored 92 points and didn’t even shoot it particularly well, only 4-15 from three.”

Cuonzo Martin was not pleased with his team’s defensive effort and even switched to a rarely-used zone defense in an effort to slow the Rebels.

“They (Ole Miss) did a solid job in the second half of attacking the rim. Once again, you have to take pride in your defense. You have to keep your your guy in front of you. I just had to try something different. I didn’t really want to have to do it, but it gives us a chance to cut it but we just didn’t do a good job boxing out on that end.”

McRae brings the ball up the court.
Photo by Reed Carringer

Two bright spots in an otherwise ugly performance for Cuonzo’s squad continue to be the play Jordan McRae and Jarnell Stokes. Making his second start of the season, McRae finished with 26 points on 8-14 shooting (3-8 from 3, 7-9 from the line) and is averaging 17.2 points in the last six games.

“Jordan (McRae) played well again. Very assertive. I thought he did a good job,” Martin said. “He’ll be in the lineup. I think he’s earned it. Not to say Skylar (McBee) hasn’t made shots. He still competes but Jordan’s earned his way on so he deserves to start.”

Forward Jarnell Stokes tallied his fifth career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. “Jarnell (Stokes) did a good job rebounding and scoring the ball. I think he’s improving in certain areas, but we gotta get him to the next level,” said Martin.

Stokes offered his own assessment of the game afterwards.

“This was definitely a learning experience. I feel like the SEC has so many evenly matched teams and you can get blown out. We feel like we can win every game from here on out. I don’t think this game took anyone’s confidence, so we should win the next couple of games.”

For the Vols to stay in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament bid they certainly need to get back in the win column. Look for them to do so next game.

Up Next: Tennessee travels to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama. They play Saturday at 2 p.m. TV: ESPN2