If Tennessee's SEC opener at Ole Miss last week was about survival, then its first home conference game of the season against Mississippi State on Wednesday was about making a statement.

The No. 8 Vols followed up a narrow win over the Rebels with an absolute rout of a Bulldogs team that entered the game allowing less than 55 points per game.

Senior guard Santiago Vescovi, who began to find his shot at the end of December, stayed hot from beyond the arc, hitting four 3-pointers en route to a 14-point showing in a convincing 87-53 Tennessee win.

Vescovi was just one of the highlights of Tennessee's dominating effort.

Offensively, the Vols were 57.1% from three-point range while the defense was as suffocating as its been all season — holding the Bulldogs to just 30.4% shooting from the field in the first half and limiting its leading scorer in Tolu Smith to nine total points.

Josiah-Jordan James made his first appearance in six games as he's worked his way back to the floor after dealing with knee soreness, but the senior guard did more than just log some minutes to get acclimated. He was productive — notching eight points in 17 minutes.

Freshman forward Julian Phillips and senior guard Zakai Zeigler scored 11 points each, while Olivier Nkamhoua and Uros Plavsic both tallied 10 points inside.

It was Vescovi and Key that set the tone right out of the gate, combining for four 3-pointers in the opening four-plus minutes to give Tennessee (12-2, 2-0 SEC) an early 16-0 lead.

Mississippi State (11-3, 0-2) didn't score its first basket until a D.J. Jefferies' layup with less than 14 minutes left in the first half, but the Bulldogs never established a rhythm.

The Vols used a 12-2 run in a five minute stretch over the midway point of the half that included two Nkamhoua baskets in the paint and 3-pointers from Key and Zakai Zeigler, but the moment that brought the home crowd to its feet was when James scored his first points on a dunk to extend the Tennessee lead to 40-14.

Minutes later, James connected from deep to make it 43-15 with 2:08 to go in the half.

That dominance poured over into the second half, too.

The Bulldogs scored the first points of the final period but Tennessee answered in emphatic fashion as Zeigler sunk his second 3-pointer and Phillips scored as part of another 11-3 run to go up 57-29 barley five minutes into the half.

Phillips was a force in the second half, scoring six of his 11 total points in the frame. He was 5-of-6 shooting from the field overall. Zeigler did much of his scoring damage in the second half as well by scoring eight points — which included two 3-pointers in the last 20 minutes. His 10 assists earned him a double-double

Tennessee is back on the road on Saturday with a contest against a struggling South Carolina Gamecocks team on tap at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina. Tipoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. on SEC Network.

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