KNOXVILLE - This loss will leave a mark.
As quickly as Tennessee's men's basketball team seized control of Tuesday night's game at Ole Miss, the Volunteers gave it away with a dreadful display to allow the Rebels to reverse a 13-point deficit and win 80-69 in Oxford.
The Vols overcame a slow start with a 7-0 spurt to close the first half and a 14-1 run to open the second half, but Tennessee made just three of its final 21 shots and had no answer when Ole Miss raised its intensity and outscored the visitors 41-17 in the final 15 minutes.
"I never felt like we were really in control," Vols coach Rick Barnes said during his postgame news conference. "You know they're going to make a push at it at the end, but from that point I thought they took it to another level. I didn't think we matched their intensity right there, and we started taking bad shots, just being careless and couldn't make a shot.
"The floor wasn't balanced. I don't know how many run-outs they had where they went down the floor. We fouled way too much. You put a team on the free-throw line 42 times, that's a lot, and there were a lot of fouls in the game.
"I thought when we were up, you expect them to make a push, and when they punched back we didn't punch. We just took it and they kept punching."
It was a bad loss for Tennessee against a team that had lost four of five games to open Southeastern Conference play. The Rebels lost their previous two home league games to Kentucky and Georgia by a combined 45 points. Ole Miss also was without leading scorer Deandre Burnett, who missed Tuesday's game due to an ankle injury.
Ole Miss won despite a 1-of-14 shooting mark from 3-point range and 17 turnovers.
"We've just got to be better," Robert Hubbs III told the Vol Network after scoring 13 of his 15 points in the first half. "We gave them a couple of easy baskets and layups and stuff. We've just got to be better, man. We've just got to take it to another level and dig in deep and keep this thing going."
Tennessee had all the momentum to open the second half when a scary moment interrupted the game. Ole Miss guard Rasheed Brooks suffered a seizure on the bench during the timeout. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment and further attention and was in stable condition, according to program officials.
The Vols led 52-39 on Admiral Schofield's layup at the 15:00 mark of the second half, but Marcanvis Hymon injected life into the Rebels with a highlight-reel one-handed slam of a blocked shot at the rim.
After Kyle Alexander's putback with 11:28 remaining, the Vols made just three shots the rest of the game.
Barnes lamented how the Vols' "bad offense," particularly when they got stagnant waiting on a teammate to make a play, often led to easy baskets or free throws for Ole Miss.
"We quit playing as a team on offense," he said. "I thought we had too many guys driving the ball and not looking to pass the ball. Our shot selection was awful. The way we handled the ball wasn't good. I thought we turned down some shots and then tried to make plays that we couldn't make."
Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden combined for 29 points but were just 9-of-31 from the field, while point guard Jordan Bone was quiet with two points on 1-of-9 shooting in 15 minutes.
Grant Williams also had a night to forget after fouling out with five points and four rebounds in 17 minutes.
"He cannot foul 50 feet from the basket," Barnes said. "Remember we were pressing and it was disrupting them a little bit and keeping them out of a flow, and he fouls there. He continues to miss a free throw at one end and continue to make high school plays. He's played enough games now.
"We've told him that too many times, but I think it's mental. I didn't think he was locked in early. I didn't think Admiral (Schofield) was, because we were wanting to double and twice I know Admiral missed his rotation. But it was a team loss all the way around.
"Put (it on) the coaching staff, whatever - it was just a Tennessee loss, and there's no ifs, ands or buts about it."
Barnes was most disappointed that the Vols didn't match their opponents' effort and passion.
"I'm upset with my team, but Ole Miss won the game," he said. "That's what competition is about. (Ole Miss coach) Andy (Kennedy) got his his guys to do what he wanted more so than I got mine to do what I wanted them to do.
"We did not deserve to win that game."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.