NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The highest-seeded College of Tennessee males’s basketball workforce dropped a 73-56 choice to ninth-seeded Mississippi State within the SEC Match quarterfinals Friday afternoon at Bridgestone Enviornment.
Fifth-ranked Tennessee (24-8, 14-4 SEC) fell behind early by double digits and couldn’t claw again. Junior guard Zakai Zeigler, who surpassed 1,000 profession factors within the setback, paced the SEC common season champions with a game-best 20 factors.
The Volunteers shot 2-of-13 and dedicated 5 turnovers within the opening eight minutes, as Mississippi State (21-12, 8-10 SEC) raced out to a 15-4 benefit, buoyed by an 8-0 surge in 2:38.
Tennessee minimize the deficit down to 6, however the Bulldogs continued their sturdy on each ends and finally closed the half on a 12-1 run within the closing 4:28 to show an eight-point edge right into a 19-point mark, 38-19, on the intermission.
Mississippi State shot 61.5 p.c (16-of-26) within the first half, whereas Tennessee posted a 20.6 p.c (7-of-34) mark, together with an 11.1 p.c (2-of-18) ledger from 3-point vary. The Volunteers didn’t make a discipline objective within the closing 5:43 of the body.
Tennessee scored 9 of the primary 11 factors popping out of the break, shortly trimming the margin all the way down to 12, 40-28, with 15:38 remaining. The Bulldogs, nonetheless, responded with 9 consecutive factors in 2:12 to take a 21-point edge, 49-28, with 13:07 to go.
Mississippi State upped the benefit to 23 and it sat at 22 with underneath eight minutes left, however Tennessee went on a 10-0 run in 2:34—capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Zeigler, the primary of which put him into triple digits as a collegian—to get inside 12, 60-48, with 5:03 left.
The Volunteers, although, received no nearer the remainder of the way in which and Mississippi State earned the choice to advance to the semifinals.
Together with Zeigler main all scorers, each fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht and junior guard Jahmai Mashack completed in double figures. Knecht scored 14 factors, whereas Mashack recorded 10 on 4-of-6 taking pictures. Junior ahead Jonas Aidoo led all gamers with 10 rebounds, seven of which got here on the offensive finish, within the defeat.
Senior ahead Cameron Matthews co-led the Bulldogs with 18 factors and paced the workforce with eight rebounds. He made all seven of his field-goal makes an attempt and shot 4-of-5 on the line, including a co-team-high three assists and two steals.
Freshman guard Josh Hubbard additionally scored 18 factors for Mississippi State and was its lone different double-figure scorer. Three further Bulldogs amassed eight factors.
Tennessee shot 42.9 p.c (12-of-28) within the second half, however nonetheless completed the day with a 30.6 p.c (19-of-62) clip total. On the different finish, Mississippi State, which had a 42-14 edge in paint factors, shot 55.3 p.c (26-of-47) within the win.
The Volunteers will now return house to Knoxville, Tenn., the place they’ll await their matchup, seed and vacation spot for the 2024 NCAA Match, as this system is anticipated to succeed in the sector for the sixth consecutive time.
To maintain up with the College of Tennessee males’s basketball workforce on social media, comply with @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, in addition to /tennesseebasketball on Fb.
TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS POSTGAME NOTES
• Tennessee is now 74-58 (.561) all-time within the SEC Match, together with 45-18 (.714) in opening video games, 15-13 (.536) in Nashville and 10-4 (.714) versus Mississippi State.
• Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes fell to 11-7 (.611) within the SEC Match with the Volunteers, together with 6-2 (.750) in opening contests, 6-6 (.500) in Nashville and 3-1 (.750) towards Mississippi State.
• Tennessee’s setback Friday snapped a six-year streak—doesn’t depend 2020, when the match was canceled on account of COVID-19—of the workforce successful its SEC Match opener.
• The Volunteers at the moment are 76-24 (.760) in 100 video games as an AP top-10 workforce underneath Barnes’ route, together with 35-11 (.761) in 46 video games whereas within the prime 5.
• The final time Tennessee dropped back-to-back video games towards SEC foes was in Feb. 18 and 21, 2023, when it fell at Kentucky (66-54) and at Texas A&M (68-63), respectively.
• Tennessee’s two lowest-scoring first halves of the season are each towards Mississippi State, because it had 22 in Starkville, Miss., on Jan. 10 earlier than notching 19 in Friday’s quarterfinal affair.
• The Volunteers’ 56 factors marked their lowest output of the season, as they completed three under the 59 they totaled on Jan. 30 towards South Carolina.
• Matthews grew to become the primary participant to make seven-plus pictures with no miss versus Tennessee since Oregon State’s Roman Silva went 8-of-8 on March 19, 2021, in Indianapolis within the NCAA Match Spherical of 64.
• Auburn’s Korvotney Barber was the final SEC participant to go at the least 7-of-7 from the ground towards Tennessee, tallying an 8-of-8 clip on Feb. 7, 2009.
• On a 3-pointer with 6:06 remaining, Zeigler, in his 97th outing as a Volunteer, grew to become the 56th participant in program historical past to succeed in 1,000 factors.
• Zeigler now owns seven 20-point performances as a Volunteer, together with 4 this season and three versus Mississippi State.
• The Volunteers now have 5 1,000-point scorers on its roster, three of whom have hit that quantity whereas at Tennessee.
• Aidoo jumped 5 gamers to maneuver from No. 11 all the way in which to sixth on Tennessee’s single-season offensive rebounding checklist, now possessing 97 such boards on the yr.
• Friday marked the second time this season Aidoo grabbed seven offensive boards in a recreation—he additionally did so Jan. 13 at Georgia—after no Volunteer achieved that feat even as soon as within the prior three seasons.
• The final Tennessee participant with seven offensive rebounds in an SEC Match recreation was Kyle Alexander, who hit that mark towards the identical foe (Mississippi State), on the identical date (March 15) and in the identical spherical (quarterfinals), precisely 5 years in the past
• Aidoo, who pulled down 9 rebounds within the first half alone, compiled the thirteenth double-digit rebounding complete of his profession, together with his eleventh in 2023-24.
• With 676 factors in 2023-24, Knecht handed Allan Houston (1992-93) and Bernard King (1976-77) to maneuver from No. 11 as much as ninth on this system’s single-season leaderboard, together with third up to now 30 years (1994-2024).
• In his 19 outings towards SEC foes throughout his lone season at Tennessee, Knecht scored 13-plus factors in 18 of them, all however the first when he tallied eight within the convention opener.