Tennessee had its chances.
And its second chances.
In their second matchup with Mississippi State this season, the Volunteers corralled 20 offensive rebounds, but could only convert that into 17 second chance points.
Their inability to capitalize on extra possessions proved to be costly as the Vols fell to the Bulldogs, 71-66, inside Thompson-Boling Arena on Tuesday.
“We missed some chippys around the goal,” Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall said. “We did a nice job of going and rebounding the ball, but we didn’t convert. When we did have the opportunity to stick it in, we missed some easy buckets within four or five feet.
“I can’t fault our effort. I thought our kids tried to play hard, but we just didn’t convert some of those easy put-back baskets.”
No missed opportunity, however, stung as much as Derek Reese’s failed second chance with 57 seconds remaining.
After gathering his third offensive board of the game, the junior forward knifed to the basket and launched himself toward the rim in an attempt to throw down a game-tying dunk.
Instead, the slam caromed off the rim and soared into the waiting arms of Mississippi State’s Fred Thomas, who leaked out to the other end and made a transition layup while being fouled by Armani Moore.
The ensuing made free throw turned what could have been a tied game into a 66-61 Bulldog advantage.
“I thought (Reese) attacked the rim,” Tyndall said. “I will live with that. He is trying to dunk a ball off a dribble penetration and we will take that every time. If it goes down, it is a tie game with a minute or so to go and you have a chance to win. Again, that is an example of a chip right around the goal that we didn’t convert.”
But while Tennessee (13-8, 5-4 SEC) struggled to convert on second chance shots near the basket, the Bulldogs (11-11, 4-5) refused to miss from outside the paint, where they scored only 12 points.
In a shooting performance that flipped the script from the first matchup between these teams — where Mississippi State shot just 11-of-36 from the floor — the Bulldogs drained eight of their 11 attempts from beyond the arc, with Craig Sword and Fred Thomas each sinking four.
“When you let get guys like Thomas or Sword get their head up, it’s going to be a tough night,” senior guard Josh Richardson said. “We let them get hot early and they did a good job to keep attacking.”
By the end of the night, Sword had 26 points — his second highest output of the season — while Thomas finished with 20 of his own.
As Sword and Thomas carried their team, though, Richardson did the same for his.
In a game-high 39 minutes, the Edmond, Oklahoma native dropped a career-high 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including a 2:21 stretch in the second half where he scored 10 consecutive points for the Vols to trim a seven-point Bulldog lead to two.
The 30-point performance was the first for UT since Jordan McRae scored 31 against the Missouri Tigers on Feb. 15, 2014.
“He was great,” junior guard Kevin Punter said. “I know I passed up a few shots because he was hot. Where I’m from, whoever is hot you feed him the ball until he starts missing. He played a great game and kept us in it. For us, we just tried to help him out and do anything to help the team out and help us get the win.”
But the help never came.
Punter was the only other Vol to finish with double figures, scoring 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting.
And while the scoring distribution lacked, Tennessee’s defensive struggles hurt even more.
Aside from allowing Mississippi State to shot 55.9 percent from the floor, the Vols also recorded 24 personal fouls, giving the Bulldogs 35 free throw attempts — making 25 of them.
“We fouled them too much and put them on the line and that is a credit to them, they didn’t settle for jump shots and they drove the ball,” Tyndall said. “A couple times we didn’t get the post fronted, about four or five times, we don’t get over the top of a ball screen and they turn the corner and draw a foul.
“You look back and (they have) 35 free throws and we have 17, that is the difference in the game.”
