Tennessee squeaks past Ole Miss in SEC hoops opener

In the first half, the Vols struggled to score on offense and stop Ole Miss from scoring on defense. They fell into a hole of as much as 10 points early into the game.

Outside of Santiago Vescovi, Tennessee couldn't find a consistent offense in the opening half. The team as a whole shot 37.5% from the field and 25% from behind the arch. Seven turnovers plagued the team as they slipped into a deficit.

On defense, the Vols couldn't stop the Rebels from coming out hot. They shot 46.2% from the field with four made 3-pointers.

"I thought the first half, (the Rebels) came out very aggressive, hard, tough-nosed," said Tennessee coach Rick Barnes. "That's Kermit (Davis') teams. They knocked us back and we had a lot of defensive breakdowns in that half. Maybe as many as we've had all year. But you've got to give that to them. They run really good offense. Our switches weren't clean. A couple breakdowns we can't have."

However, after trailing by six points heading into the halftime break, Tennessee instantly flipped the script. The offense began to knock down shots and the defense shut down the Ole Miss attack. The Vols outscored the Rebels by 11 in the opening 12-and-a-half minutes of the second half – resulting in a seven-point lead.

A big reason behind Tennessee's improvement was Vescovi's continued offensive production. He scored 12 second-half points on his way to a total of 22 in the contest on 8-for-14 shooting. His three 3-pointers sparked the offense as the Vols climbed out of the hole. In 37 minutes of play, he impacted the game in a myriad of ways - finishing with a +/- of +7.

"(Vescovi) impacts a game in so many ways," said Barnes. "That's one thing we talked about last night, how you can never score a basket but impact the game. What (Vescovi) does screening, cutting, his defense, he's a terrific player. He impacts the game every single night."

Due to Vescovi's impressive play, Tennessee was in the driver's seat as time winded down. Ole Miss scratched at the lead but could never surmount the late deficit. Long stretches of offensive failures plagued its attempt at a comeback. The Rebels shot just 28% from the field in the second half.

However, the Vols still needed an offensive push to finish out the game. With little time remaining, Zakai Zeigler picked up the slack and scored six of the team's final eight points. The backup guard struggled from the field but did damage at the free-throw line. He finished with 13 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the charity stripe.

These late-game heroics from the line wasn't the only impact Zeigler had on the game, though. He played his typical fierce defense – coming away with a block and two steals. When his shot wasn't falling, he also became a playmaker by dishing out three assists.

Also helping down the stretch was Jonas Aidoo. After an undesirable first half, he put together a great defensive stretch in the second frame. On top of his eight points, he grabbed six offensive rebounds, seven defensive rebounds, dished out two assists and blocked three shots. His impressive play was crucial as the Vols fought to a road win.

"(Aidoo) affects a lot of things," said Barnes. "The second half, I thought he was terrific in the lane on the defensive end. If he gets where he needs to be, these guys will find him."

With the win, Tennessee moves to 1-0 in SEC play. After finishing last season at second in the regular season and later becoming conference tournament champions, expectations are as high as ever for the Vols.

They'll look to keep their winning ways alive in their SEC home opener – and their first game of 2023 – when they host Mississippi State on January 3 at 7 p.m. ET at Thompson-Boling Arena.

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