SEC Basketball: No. 9 Tennessee escapes upset against Mississippi State

One of SEC basketball’s top matchups Tuesday night, top 10 ranked Tennessee overcame a slow start in the first half to beat Mississippi State on the road, 70-59.

Down at one point in the first ten minutes by nine, the Volunteers leaned on sophomore guard Zakai Zeigler for consistent scoring with multiple guys out.

Zeigler scored a career-high 24 points while shooting 50% (7/14) from the field and 40% (4/10) from three. He also led the team in assists.

But Zeigler was not without help as freshman forward Julian Phillips dropped a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Not to mention senior guard Josiah-Jordan James who added 13 points.

While Mississippi State didn’t shoot very well on Tuesday night, they still got their scoring from multiple different areas.

Four Bulldog players scored nine or more points with junior guard Shakeel Moore leading the team with 20 points on 5 of 13 shooting.

Tolu Smith had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Eight of those boards were offensive rebounds.

Tennessee looked to rally after losing their last game to unranked Kentucky at home and Mississippi State entered 12-5 having dropped their last two SEC games.

The Volunteers avoided a possible skid and will now try to reclaim their spot atop the conference, while the Bulldogs are second to last in the standings and need to find an identity with their backs against the wall.

Tennessee defeats Mississippi State in SEC basketball road test, 70-59

By the numbers:

Converting their free throw opportunities down the stretch was crucial for the Volunteers as they converted 14 of 15 shots (93.3%) at the charity stripe.

Tennessee also didn’t let Mississippi State’s stifling defense stop them from shooting the ball all over the court. They outshot Mississippi State by 11.8 percentage points from the field (45.1% to 33.3%) and 14.8 percentage points from three (41.7% to 26.9%)

Both teams led by a decent margin at a certain point in the game. The Bulldogs led by nine in the first half and the Volunteers led by 12 later in the game.

Looking Ahead:

Tennessee bounced back from a tough loss at home with a big conference win on the road against a tough defensive team. They have two SEC basketball matchups against talented squads (LSU and Georgia) before they play in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge against No. 7 Texas.

Mississippi State finds themselves in a hole moving into the late part of January. It will be crucial for them to get some conference wins, or wins in general, soon. They play Florida and No. 4 Alabama in their next two games before facing No. 14 TCU in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.