FINAL IN STARKVILLE: Mississippi State 64, Tennessee 59

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/827822269531557889

Battle of the veteran coaches who matriculated to the SEC

Tennessee's RPI bears watching win or lose. The Vols' enter the game with a No. 36 RPI, but Mississippi State's is only 120, so even with a victory Tennessee's won improve much. A loss would mean a significant drop.

Pushing tempo will be big for Tennessee, as it is 9-0 this season when scoring at least 80 points (13-0 when they lead at the end of the game), including the 91-74 win over Mississippi State on Jan. 21 in Knoxville.

Tennessee has won three straight at Mississippi State and joins Kentucky as the only SEC programs with winning records in Humphrey Coliseum. Barnes is 5-0 all-time vs. Mississippi State and 5-1 vs. Howland.

Vegas Line: Tennessee by 4

[jbcarol]

@GrantRamey ‏@GrantRamey 12h12 hours ago

From @wesrucker247: Vols expecting a fight from revenge-minded Mississippi State http://tennessee.247sports.com/Article/Tennessee-Vols-basketball-expects-fight-from-revenge-minded-Miss-51089108 ...

A Saturday game at Mississippi State will give Tennessee the opportunity to do something it struggled to do all season: win a rematch game.

The Vols — who were 1-4 in rematch games in last year's regular season — thumped the Bulldogs by a 91-74 margin on Jan. 21 in Knoxville but don't expect anything about Saturday's return trip to Humphrey Coliseum to be that simple.

"You have familiarity with them, and they with you, so that makes it different," second-year Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said before Friday's practice in Thompson-Boling Arena. "There's gonna be some adjustments, obviously."

Barnes responded to a question about the Vols' "easy win" over the Bulldogs in January by saying he didn't think anything about it was easy, and that he certainly doesn't expect an easy environment in The Hump against a talented team with a proven coach in veteran Ben Howland.

[jbcarol]

Wes Rucker ‏@wesrucker247 2h2 hours ago

Only thing #Vols aren't doing well today: free throws.

Tennessee is 4-of-12 from the FT line but still leads 29-12 at MissState.

[jbcarol]

Wes Rucker ‏@wesrucker247 21m21 minutes ago

FINAL IN STARKVILLE: Mississippi State 64, Tennessee 59. #Vols lose 19-point lead and self-destruct. That one will sting.

Tennessee just lost a game that was practically impossible to lose.

You can't blame refs for going 10-of-22 from FT line and 5-of-18 and getting beat 55-45 on the boards. You just can't.

Just an immature finish from #Vols. Up 19 when they should have been up 30-plus, and then they just unraveled.

[jbcarol]

@GrantRamey ‏@GrantRamey 21m21 minutes ago

Quick gamer, if you have the stomach: Mississippi State rallies to take down Tennessee, 64-59 http://tennessee.247sports.com/Article/Mississippi-State-rallies-to-take-down-Tennessee-Vols-basketball-51109171 ...

STARKVILLE, Miss. --- Rick Barnes made a point before practice Friday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena that playing with a lead is not as easy as it may seem.

Once an engine starts to idle, sometimes it's hard to fire it back up. That's how Barnes chose to describe it.

His Tennessee basketball team lived out the analogy a little over 24 hours later against Mississippi State.

The Vols led by as many as 19 points in the first half, then watched as that lead got smaller and smaller over the course of the second half. It disappeared entirely with four minutes, 22 seconds left, when Xavian Stapleton hit a go-ahead 3-pointer, as Mississippi State rallied to stun Tennessee 64-59 in front of 7,581 at Humphrey Coliseum.

The loss snapped the Vols' Southeastern Conference-best four-game win streak.

Tennessee led by as man (sic) as 19 in the first half and took a 33-21 lead into the locker room at half....

Tennessee led 50-39 with 10:04 to go, but went over five minutes without a made field goal, while Mississippi State went on a 18-3 run to take a 57-53 lead with 3:46 left.

Tennessee is back at Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday (TV: SEC Network, 6:30 p.m.), hosting Ole Miss (13-9, 4-5). The Vols led 52-39 with 15 minutes to play in Oxford, Miss., on Jan. 17, but the Rebels closed the game on a 41-17 run to win 80-69.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/828399449294647296

Vols' squandered an 18-point, second-half lead in Saturday's 64-59 road loss at Mississippi State, the fourth time this season UT has lost a game after leading by double digits.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/WillSammon/status/828262435752669184

State was again without its lone senior in point guard I.J. Ready. And the Bulldogs trailed by as many as 19 in a first half in which they went 4-for-19 from 3-point range and leading scorer Quinndary Weatherspoon was held scoreless. MSU was getting beat on the boards again.

With MSU losing four of its last five heading into Saturday's game against Tennessee, you couldn't fault some for thinking, "OK, here we go again," before the start of the second half.

Yet, the contest at Humphrey Coliseum was different — and it showed what this young team is capable of for the rest of the season.

Instead of relying on 3-pointers to get back in the game, MSU worked the ball inside to Schnider Herard, who had 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Instead of making mistakes down the stretch, MSU took care of each possession and finished with 10 turnovers after committing 19 in two straight games. Instead of getting out-hustled and outworked for rebounds, the Bulldogs were physical and racked up a season-high 55 boards, including 21 on the offensive glass.

"We overcame a lot of adversity to find a way to win," Ben Howland said.

MSU (14-8, 5-5 SEC) trailed for the first 33:27 after an anemic offensive start in which the Bulldogs missed their first nine shots. Things started to change in the second half because the Bulldogs attacked the basket. Consider: MSU had 28 points in paint and 19 second-chance points in the second half after six points and eight points, respectively, in the first half.

"That's what we did a better job of in the second half," Howland said.

MSU finished on a 25-9 run in the last 10 minutes and needed only two treys in that span.

Both of those 3-pointers were critical...