Tennessee basketball bounced back from its weekend loss, jumping out to an early lead and largely coasting to a 68-56 victory over No. 14 Mississippi State.
Here’s three quick takeaways on a comfortable ranked win for the Vols.
Welcome Back To The Show Chaz Lanier
After a rough few shooting performances, shooting guard Chaz Lanier got hit shot back in Saturday’s loss at Vanderbilt where he made four-of-six three-point attempts. But the strong shooting came with five turnovers and a rough end of the game sequence.
But Lanier got Tennessee going from the jump against the Bulldogs. He opened the scoring with a triple and drilled another two possessions later to make it an 8-0 Volunteer run to open the game.
The strong shooting continued and Lanier found more open space than he had since the SEC opener against Arkansas. Some of that was because of Mississippi State miscues but Lanier deserves credit for moving without the ball and being ready to shoot from deep.
Lanier went for 14 points on four-of-seven shooting from deep in the first half on his way to a 23-point performance on five made three-pointers.
If Tennessee is going to reach its ceiling, they need to get Lanier going offensively. The Mississippi State game was a great step in the right direction.
Tennessee’s Defense With A Bounce Back Performance
In its loss at Vanderbilt on Saturday, Tennessee’s defense struggled in a way that it rarely does. It’s safe to say that Tennessee’s players heard an earful about it and came out ready to make a statement on that end.
Mississippi State scored just four points in the game’s first eight minutes and was lost on offense. The Vols forced a numbers of turnovers early in the game and the Bulldogs struggled to create open shots from the field.
The first half saw Mississippi State produce jarring numbers, scoring just 16 points on 22% shooting from the field while turning the ball over eight times. The Bulldogs came out red-hot in the second half, scoring 15 points by the first media timeout as they cut Tennessee’s lead to seven points.
But Tennessee turned it back on and scored just two points in the next six minutes. The final result was a 56-point, .933 point per possession performance from the Bulldogs.
And while Mississippi State is known for defense under Chris Jans, the Bulldogs entered the night ranked 16th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency.
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Tennessee Connects From Deep, With Some Unlikely Subjects
Three-point defense was one of Mississippi State’s weaknesses entering the game which opened up the strong possibility for Tennessee to use perimeter shooting to propel its offense. I wrote before the game that Tennessee needed to hit 8-10 triples against the Bulldogs.
They did just that, hitting 10 three-pointers at a 36% clip. Chaz Lanier did the bulk of that damage, hitting the five previously mentioned triples.
But Tennessee had a couple unlikely subjects connect from deep. Jahmai Mashack hit both of his three-point attempts on his way to a strong offensive performance where he scored 10 point on four-of-six shooting from the field.
Perhaps the biggest three-pointer of the game came from Felix Okpara as the shot clock expired. Mississippi State was on a 15-4 run to open the second half which had cut the Vols’ lead to seven points. Okpara pushed the lead back to 10 points and it was never single-digits again. It was Okpara’s first made three-pointer of the season and second of his career.
It was the only shot that Okpara made but it was another strong performance from the Ohio State transfer. He totaled nine points, a season-high 12 rebounds and a block.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee heads on the road Saturday to face No. 1 Auburn on the Plains. Tipoff at Neville Arena is at 8:30 p.m. ET and ESPN is broadcasting the game.
