NASHVILLE Tennessee was the unanimous pre-season pick to win the Southeastern Conference. Mississippi was picked to finish last in the SEC Western Division.
Friday’s quarterfinal match-up between the Volunteers and the Rebels proved that predictions don’t always hold up as Ole Miss eliminated Tennessee from the SEC tournament with an 86-73 win at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.
Give Mississippi credit, they really played good, Vol head coach Jerry Green said. We never quit, we played hard all the way through.
Mississippi was the best team on the court today.
For the second time this season, freshman guard Aaron Harper was the thorn in the Vols’ side as he paced the Rebels with 21 points on 5-of-8 shooting, hitting 9 of 10 free throws. On Feb. 10, Harper notched a career-high 23 points against UT.
Perhaps overshadowing Harper’s performance was the double-double by Rahim Lockhart. The 6-foot-8, 250-pound senior completed Mississippi’s inside-outside game plan with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
The game plan, just like any other game, was to go inside and out, Lockhart said, establish the inside presence and, because the guys have been shooting so well, if they get the ball I know they’re going to make it.
Ole Miss head coach Rod Barnes wasn’t shy about his game plan from the opening tip.
Our main thing was to get the ball into what we consider our go-to guy, and that’s Rahim Lockhart, Barnes said. We went inside early and often and we got great results out of it. This is nothing that we haven’t done all season.
The inside game got a little physical early in the contest as a technical foul was called on UT’s Ron Slay under the Tennessee goal as Ole Miss’ Jason Harrison fell to the ground with the ball with 9:57 remaining in the first half. Slay then went for the ball to force a jump ball but apparently Harrison had already signaled for a Rebel time-out.
Really, I didn’t hear a whistle. Slay said. (The ball) was just laying in his hands so when I didn’t hear the whistle, I just went for the ball. I think a lot of things escalated because the refs were pushing everybody out of the way.
Isiah Victor’s lay-up with 7:44 left in the half capped a 7-0 run by the Vols to tie the game at 24. However, Tennessee’s offensive drought began as the Vols made only five points to Mississippi’s 14, seven of which were by Lockhart, as the Rebels took a 38-29 lead at the break.
In the first half, Lockhart hit a lot of big shots for them and we weren’t converting on the other end, said Slay, who led the Vols with 20 points in the losing effort. They outhustled us a little bit.
It was Slay’s second 20-point game in as many days as he scored 22 against Auburn on Thursday.
Tennessee trailed by double figures for much of the second half until Slay brought his game to the outside, draining a 3 from the top with 11:48 remaining to cut the lead to 48-41.
After two Rebel free throws by Emmanuel Wade, Slay pulled up for another 3, this time from the right wing to make it 50-44. Marcus Haislip followed with a free throw and Jenis Grindstaff forced a jump ball, shifting the momentum to Tennessee’s side.
Wade’s lay-up was answered by a UT 3-pointer by Grindstaff to make it 52-48. Jason Holmes drained two Ole Miss free throws as did Grindstaff for UT, making it 54-50 with 7:48 to play.
Holmes, who finished with 14 points, then nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it a seven-point game. Haislip answered with a one-hand jumper but David Sanders’ putback on the other end extended the lead to seven points again. Slay’s free throw made it a six-point margin with 5:41 left, but that was as close as the Vols would come.
Ole Miss pulled away for an 11-point lead with 1:51 left in the game when Tennessee made its final run at the Rebels.
Jon Higgins found Terrence Woods at the top of the key for a 3-pointer for a 74-66 game. Two missed free throws by the Rebels’ Jason Flanigan opened the door for a basket by Slay to cut the Ole Miss lead back to six at 74-68 with 1:05 left.
Time was ticking and Tennessee was forced to foul. Two Tony Harris free throws and a 3 by Vincent Yarbrough proved meaningless as the Rebels calmly drained 10 of 10 free throws in the final 50.1 seconds.
We hit some really big free throws at the end of the game, Barnes said. That really helped us get over the hump.
Free throws may have been the story of the game as the Rebels nearly doubled the Vols’ production from the line. Mississippi made 31 of 38 free throws while UT hit 17 of 28.
They got a lot of calls and we got a lot of calls, Slay said. It’s just that we didn’t convert on our free throws.
The Rebels scored 20 points on Tennessee’s 14 turnovers while the Vols only managed six points off of 15 Ole Miss turnovers. The Rebels also outrebounded Tennessee 44-32.
We had to do what we had to do to win, Lockhart said. And that was for us to play team ball and Ole Miss-style basketball, which is aggressive defense and be patient on offense. I’m just thankful for a win.
