The three things that went into Tennessee basketball’s ‘recipe for losing’ at Ole Miss

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Rick Barnes had no problem with Tennessee basketball’s offense Wednesday.

The rest? Yeah, the Vols coach had a problem with just about everything else. Tennessee gave up 3-point plays, executed poorly defensively, played at half-speed and didn’t compete on the interior.

“That’s a recipe for losing — and that’s what we did,” Barnes said.

The No. 4 Vols flopped in their penultimate SEC game, losing 78-76 at Ole Miss. These are three things that cost Tennessee the most as its chances at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament spiraled without its trademark defense.

Tennessee was ‘soft’ in handling rim protection

Cade Phillips joined the unfortunate list of Tennessee players who have fouled a 3-point shooter this season. He fouled Jaylen Murray, who made the 3-pointer but missed the free throw as part of Ole Miss’ first and-1 opportunity.

Tennessee (24-6, 11-6 SEC) gave the Rebels (21-9, 10-7) five more, and they converted all of them.

“It’s ridiculous,” Barnes said. “We talk about having confrontation. We play like we were — that’s soft, honestly. That’s being soft. That’s you not really trying to go in and make plays on the ball.”

BRACKET: How Tennessee basketball’s loss at Ole Miss hurt Vols’ No. 1 seed hopes in March Madness

The Rebels had all five and-1 plays in the final 35:56.

Jaemyn Brakefield had three in the final 10:24. He scored nine of his 19 points on those plays. His latter two 3-point plays both tied the game.

“We’ve been a pretty good rim-protecting team this year, but we weren’t tonight,” Barnes said.

Ole Miss rebounded more than half of its second-half misses

Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla missed a 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds and Tennessee had rebounding position with Jordan Gainey and Jahmai Mashack near the rim.

The ball hit the rim twice and Ole Miss pounced. Brakefield came down with it in a play that summarized Tennessee’s foibles.

The Rebels had 15 offensive rebounds, which led to 14 more field-goal attempts than Tennessee had. They had…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/three-things-went-tennessee-basketballs-100540987.html

Author : Knox News | The Knoxville News-Sentinel

Publish date : 2025-03-06 10:05:00

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