Rebels Fall to No. 19 Tennessee on the Hardwood

Breein Tyree scores 17 points against Tennessee. Photo by Joshua McCoy / Ole Miss Sports Information

A strong second-half surge by the Ole Miss Rebels against the No.19 Tennessee Volunteers didn’t prove enough for a victory as UT took the game 73-65.

Ole Miss (12-17, 4-11 SEC) made a run early in the second half to cut a 15-point halftime (41-26) deficit down to 5 as the Rebels went on an 11-0 run behind the play of Berlin Tyree. Tyree finished the game with 17 points shooting.
The Rebels’ defensive play picked up during the run making it challenging for the Vols to make a bucket. Tennessee missed eight of their first nine shots. Ole Miss was able to get easy shots at the rim by the number of turnovers caused by the guards.
“When you don’t make shots, some of the hustle plays and the defensive plays don’t work,” Ole Miss acting head coach Tony Madlock said. “We didn’t make enough shots early to get us going defensively.”
Bruce Stevens and Terence Davis joined in on the double-figure scoring as they scored 14 and 13 points respectively.
Tennessee jumped out to an early 29-9 lead over the Rebels in the first 20 minutes of action. Ole Miss was able to get their feet under them to climb back into the game.
The Rebels struggled from beyond the arc on the afternoon as they connected one of 23 attempts.
“It is never any fun when you see it,” Madlock said. “We had good looks for the most part. They have been working all year. They have been in the gym, so it is not like we are getting lack of reps. It is just a matter of getting them in in the game.”
Admiral Schofield led Tennessee in scoring with 25 points.
“They are top 20 in the country for a reason,” Madlock said. “Usually when someone doesn’t have a good game, someone else steps up. And that’s what happened with (Admiral) Schofield today.”
Ole Miss returns to action Wednesday as they travel to The Bluegrass State to tangle on the hardwood with Kentucky. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN2.

Adam Brown is the sports editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.