KNOXVILLE -- Again, Tennessee came up on the short end of a close basketball game.
Again, the Volunteers could point to key moments that cost them a possible win long before a last-second shot cruelly sealed their doom.
In dropping a third consecutive game, Tennessee let an eight-point second-half lead go to waste and lost 59-57 at Ole Miss on Saturday night when Josh Richardson's midrange jump shot rattled out at the buzzer.
"That was a very good team we played tonight," forward Armani Moore told the Vol Network radio broadcast after Tennessee dropped to 1-5 in February.
"I think we came out and did some good things, but at the end, I feel like we've got to really buckle down on some things. There was some key plays, some key box-outs that we didn't get, and it ended up causing us to lose the game."
The biggest talking point in the immediate aftermath of the game was the last possession.
The Vols burned a timeout with 4.8 seconds left after Robert Hubbs came down with the rebound of Richardson's 3-point miss from the corner, and coach Donnie Tyndall drew up a play. The Rebels took away the first option, so Richardson took a dribble-handoff in the corner and found space to get up a jumper on the wing. Kevin Punter, another option on the play, was even more open at the top of the key for a would-be winning 3-pointer.
"Josh got a good look," Tyndall told reporters after the game. "It was a clean look, but I thought Kevin was also open at the top of the key. (Josh) could have went one more for an open look, but I have no problem with the shot at all.
"Your best players's got the ball in his hands in the last 15 seconds with good looks in both cases, one a 3 to maybe win it and a two to force overtime. As I've said, Josh has made big shots all year. Tonight, unfortunately, they just didn't go in."
Punter scored all 12 of his points on four 3s.
"Josh, he still had a clean look," he told the Knoxville News Sentinel after the game. "Yeah, I was open, but he still had a clean look at it, and it almost went in. If he would have hit it, no one would be talking about the extra pass."
Tennessee also came up on the wrong end of the game's most contentious point, a replay review that reversed a call that awarded the Vols possession with 35.4 seconds left.
Richardson had two hands on LaDarius White's missed 3, but Rebels forward Sebastian Saiz knocked the ball out of Richardson's grasp and out of bounds. The official on the baseline said the ball last came off Saiz, but the call was reversed upon further review.
Tyndall said "three or four" of his players told him it was a bad call.
The Vols led 44-36 on Richardson's 3 with 12:45 to go, but Tennessee squandered the advantage with a rash of turnovers. Miscues by Detrick Mostella and Hubbs led to layups from Jarvis Summers and Stefan Moody, who led Ole Miss with 22 points, six 3s and six steals. Moody then hit a 3 after Richardson coughed it up.
"We definitely didn't do a good job tonight responding to the pressure they threw at us," Moore said. "They got to us and sped us up a little bit, and we ended up giving them the ball trying to play with them and play their game. Once you do that to a team, especially being on their home court, that's never a good thing."
Those mistakes and the late misses cost Tennessee a game it played well enough to win. The Vols shot 39 percent (9-of-23) from 3-point range and had advantages in rebounding (37-28) and paint scoring (20-18). They were undone by the 13 turnovers that led to 14 Ole Miss points.
The undersized Moore was excellent with 15 points, nine rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
"Some of these guys, they might be five or six inches taller than me night in and night out, but I just think it's a mentality, knowing that you can't be stopped," he said.
"It's about playing smart. A lot of guys don't know how to use their bodies, especially when you're a lot shorter than different guys, in a smart way. I just let my teammates get the ball to me, and if I slow down and let the game come to me, I end up doing some good things."
The Vols are off until Thursday, when they try to get back on track when Vanderbilt visits.
"It's very tough on our team right now, especially taking these last couple of losses," Moore said. "Everything's not going to always go the way you want it. But at the end of the day, we've got to put this one behind us and know that we've got another great team ahead of us."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.