The Mississippi State men’s basketball team fell behind 16-0 on Tuesday night at No. 8 Tennessee before the first media timeout could provide some much-needed intervention.
And it only got worse.
Rather than get back into the game, the Bulldogs (11-3, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) fell further and further behind the Volunteers (12-2, 2-0 SEC) in an eventual 87-53 loss at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee.
“I’m sure the rim for them looked huge after the first couple makes they had, and then we just spent the entire evening just playing catch-up basketball,” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said.
Mississippi State trailed by double digits for more than 37 minutes, coming nowhere close to overcoming the host Vols and remaining winless in SEC play.
The Bulldogs were held to 39.6 percent shooting — 22.2 percent from 3 — while Tennessee delivered a scorching performance, going 69.2 percent from the field and making 12 of 21 shots from deep.
Five Volunteers finished in double digits, led by Santiago Vescovi with 14 points. Zakai Zeigler and Julian Phillips scored 11 apiece.
Tennessee held a lead as large as 29 points before the break and led by 24 at halftime.
Dashawn Davis opened the second half with a 3-pointer for Mississippi State, but the Volunteers scored the next six points to fully slam the door shut.
Tennessee’s lead reached 36 in the second half, and only a strong performance from New Hope native and Southern Miss transfer Tyler Stevenson kept the margin from reaching 40 or more.
Stevenson made seven of eight shots in the second half, finishing with a game-high 15 points.
“I just really want to do whatever I need to do to help my team win, so whether that’s rebounding, playing tough or making shots, whatever it is, I just want to do what I can to help,” he said.
Tolu Smith and freshman Kimani Hamilton had nine points apiece for the Bulldogs.
Mississippi State missed its first six shots to begin the game, and Tennessee connected on six of its initial seven attempts.
The Bulldogs clawed their way back into the game on a three-point play by D.J. Jeffries, two free throws from Smith and a 3-pointer from redshirt freshman KeShawn Murphy. Murphy’s triple made it an 18-8 game at the 11:01 mark of the first half.
But Olivier Nkamhoua sank two jumpers around a pair of free throws from Vescovi, and Tyreke Key and Phillips soon added 3s to stretch the Vols’ lead back out.
Tennessee shot 63 percent from the field in the first half and an even more impressive 76 percent in the second half.
The Vols gave Mississippi State little chance to win its first SEC road game, of which the Bulldogs will have two more next week with trips to Georgia on Jan. 11 and No. 20 Auburn on Jan. 14.
First, though, MSU will host rival Ole Miss (8-5, 0-1 SEC) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Humphrey Coliseum as the Bulldogs will do their best to recover from their three-game losing skid.
“I think we’re going to respond well to it because this feeling is definitely not a good feeling, and all the guys feel the same way,” Stevenson said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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