Wade Baldwin did not take kindly to Tennessee “out-toughing” Vanderbilt in its first matchup, but that did not stop the Volunteers from doing it again Thursday night.

Vanderbilt’s freshman guard, however, probably won’t mind as much this time around.

Tennessee out-rebounded the Commodores, 37-19 — including a 19-1 advantage on the offensive glass — but allowed Vanderbilt to shoot 84.2 percent from the floor in the second half, which ultimately cost the Vols in a 73-65 defeat inside Thompson-Boling Arena.

“We gave up one offensive rebound and lost, I don’t know if that has ever happened,” Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall said. “I just think the biggest thing was their shooting percentage the second half, 84 percent is incredible.

“I don’t think it was for lack of effort. Our guys competed, we just didn’t do a good job of keeping the ball in front and again as we had to help over, they kept drawing kick threes and in the first half they didn’t make many and the second half they did.”

Sitting on their largest lead of the night at 39-26, Tennessee (14-13, 6-9 SEC) watched as Vanderbilt (16-12, 6-9) started to heat up from behind the arc.

Matthew Fisher-Davis drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the UT lead down to seven, but the Vols quickly answered with a pair of long balls from Derek Reese and Josh Richardson to push the lead back up to 13 with 13:39 left to play.

Two possessions later, Luke Kornet sank a three — one of his season-high five on the night — and the downpour began. Over the final 12:40 of the contest, the Commodores failed to miss a 3-point attempt, going a perfect 6-of-6.

In the 5:20 following Kornet’s first three of the second half, the Commodores would turn a 10-point deficit into a 50-50 ballgame, and the Vols never saw the lead again.

From there, the Commodores grew their lead to as much as 10, and unlike the first contest in Nashville, weathered a late Tennessee push by making their free throws.

“They did a good job of driving the ball and finding open guys,” Richardson said. “We didn’t do good job of guarding the dribble, so they were just getting in the lane and doing whatever they wanted.”

The scorching second half performance from the floor came one period after Vanderbilt struggled to hit anything.

After trading mini runs to open the ballgame, Vanderbilt reeled off a 12-0 run to grab a 16-5 lead, only to watch Tennessee answer with a 12-0 run of its own.

A Wade Baldwin three with 6:02 remaining in the first half tied the game up at 19, but it was the last shot the Commodores saw hit the bottom of the net, as the Vols closed out the opening period on an 11-0 run to go into halftime with a 30-19 lead.

Ultimately, though, Vanderbilt’s final run proved to be the only one that mattered.

“Whenever one game got relaxed, the other team took advantage,” Richardson said. “We were the last team to relax and they ended up winning it.”

On Wednesday, Baldwin made it a point to bring up Richardson’s post-game comments after the first matchup between the two teams regarding the Vols “out-toughing” Vanderbilt,” stating that the Commodores were “going after Tennessee.”

In the end, though, it was Tennessee who once again showed their muscle, collecting as many offensive rebounds as the Commodores had total rebounds (19) and tallying 24 second chance points while limiting Vandy to zero.

“It’s frustrating because we emphasize that,” Reese said. “Coach Tyndall says that if we do that, we are going to win. But there are other areas that you have to control too, and they are a good team.

“We let a couple of shooters get going and get their confidence up, and they just couldn’t miss.”

In light of his comments, Baldwin was quick to celebrate Vanderbilt’s victory over their in-state rival as clapped his hands in the face of Armani Moore and proceeded to share a few words with the junior guard.

The antics warranted a jawing from his head coach Kevin Stallings, but it did not seem to bother those in the UT camp.

“It’s a competitive sport,” Richardson said. “It happens.”

What does upset those in the Tennessee locker room is the fact that Thursday’s loss extends their losing streak to four games, a stretch they are looking to turn around when they travel to Gainesville, Florida to play the Gators on Saturday.