OXFORD—Two minutes and 33 seconds into the game Vol forward Jarnell Stokes picked up his second foul. At the half, six Vols had two fouls and Ole Miss had attempted 17 free throws to Tennessee’s three. While that certainly doesn’t sound like a winning recipe for the men in orange, they led the 23rd ranked Rebels 25-18 at the break. Rebounding and solid defense, two pillars of Cuonzo Martin’s coaching philosophy, guided the Vols to the seven-point advantage.

Tennessee outrebounded the Rebels by 10 and frustrated the SEC’s leading scorer, Marshall Henderson, on his way to just four first half points. Ole Miss ranks third nationally in scoring at 82.4 points per game, yet the Vols’ stingy defense held them to just 16.7% shooting in the first 20 minutes of play.

Marshall Henderson torched the Vols for 28 points.
Photo by Reed Carringer

The Rebels opened the half making three of their first six shots, but the Vols maintained a seven-point lead. Unfortunately for Tennessee, Ole Miss got even hotter, hitting four straight 3s in a span of 90 seconds. Marshall Henderson (28 points) did most of the damage. The flamboyant guard hit back-to-back 3s, Nick Williams added one, then Henderson hit another to give Ole Miss a 36-32 lead.

It looked like the Vols might collapse from the pressure, yet Tennessee fought back and led by six with 6:39 to play largely due to the efforts of Jordan McRae. The Vol forward scored 18 of Tennessee’s 31 points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.

One of Henderson’s six 3s gave the Rebels a 56-53 lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Tennessee had several chances to tie or take the lead down the stretch, but went 0-4 from the field and 0-4 from the line in the final three minutes of play.

McRae finished with 26 points and has scored 20 or more points in five of UT’s last six games; all losses.

He needs help on offense and didn’t get enough tonight as two Vol starters, McBee and Richardson, combined for just three points. We discussed the play of Golden and Stokes in our game preview, stating they needed to play well, but not outstanding, for the Vols to win.

Though Golden continued to look better offensively and scored 11 points, he managed just one assist and committed three turnovers. Stokes ended the night with six points, four rebounds, two turnovers , and five fouls. He lacked the aggressiveness Cuonzo wants to see and only attempted three shots on the evening. In the end, their performances simply weren’t enough to lift the Vols to victory over Marshall Henderson and the 23rd ranked Rebels.

UT remains winless on the road and will have to rebound quickly to salvage a season on life support. The Vols fought, but fighting isn’t enough. They must learn to win, and learn to win quickly.

“You come in here trying to win a ball game, have an opportunity to win the game and come up short,” Vol head coach Cuonzo Martin said. “It makes you think about key plays, missed free-throws and turnovers. We didn’t get a key stop. It’s been the same the last few games, and we just need to keep our heads up.”

Up Next: The Vols host Alabama at 2 p.m. Saturday. TV: ESPN2