KNOXVILLE - This time there was no second-half meltdown.
It was the exact opposite, in fact.
Four days after the disappointing loss at Ole Miss, Tennessee's men's basketball team played perhaps its best half of the season, and a 54-point second half turned a close game with Mississippi State into a 91-74 rout Saturday evening at Thompson-Boling Arena.
It was the response Tennessee needed with Kentucky coming to Knoxville on Tuesday.
"They knew that I was angry," Vols coach Rick Barnes said, "because we had a really hard practice (on Thursday)."
"It was very physical," forward Admiral Schofield confirmed following his 15-point, seven-rebound outing. "It got a little testy, a little heated a couple of times. The biggest thing is the intensity for us has to pick up, because we lose it throughout the game. We've got to sustain that intensity."
Tennessee (10-9, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) certainly did so in a commanding second half.
Previously Tennessee's highest-scoring half of the season was a 53-point second half against Appalachian State in the season's second game in November, and the Vols reached the 50-point mark Saturday when Lew Evans scored after rebounding a missed free throw with more than five minutes left to put the hosts up 84-60.
The Vols scored just 17 points in the final 15 minutes at Ole Miss as the Rebels reversed a 13-point deficit and won by 11.
Turnovers and bad shots contributed to the Vols blowing their lead Tuesday, but they shot 55 percent (17-of-31) and had 12 assists with just three turnovers in the second half Saturday.
Mississippi State took a one-point lead (38-37) in the opening minute of the half, but Tennessee gained control with a 9-0 spurt and then outscored the Bulldogs (12-6, 3-3) 29-11 over nine-plus minutes to turn a six-point lead in to a 24-point cushion.
"We just emphasized," Schofield said, "keeping our foot on the throttle.
"We've got to stick together and understand what we're looking for on the offensive end and what we've got to do to limit teams on the defensive end. If we just execute those things, we'll be in good position to win. Then it's just sustaining the energy and sustaining the intensity throughout 40 minutes and doing our jobs to the best of our ability."
Robert Hubbs III, who finished with a team-high 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting, did most of his damage in the first half, whereas freshmen Grant Williams and Jordan Bowden each responded to a halftime lecture from their coach.
After going scoreless in seven foul-plagued minutes, Williams scored 17 points in the second half, while Bowden scored 12 points with four of his career-high seven rebounds and hit two key 3s as Tennessee started to pull away.
"I can't tell you what I said to them," Barnes quipped, "but the fact is they responded. I thought Grant would be fine. I mean, he just didn't get to play in the first half. I don't know how many minutes he played, but we needed Jordan to be more aggressive rebounding the ball.
"I don't know how many he got tonight, but in the second half he was in there helping us, because those guys in the first half were just playing volleyball with it around the rim."
Tennessee was plus-14 (49-35) in rebounding margin and pulled down 19 offensive rebounds on just 36 missed shots, and six players had at least four rebounds, led by Evans' nine.
"The teams that usually win are the teams that take care of the ball and rebound," Evans said. "That's our mindset as big guys. We talk to each other all the time. We need to be out there playing harder than those guys."
Mississippi State coach Ben Howland believed Tennessee set the tone for the game in its opening minute.
"The size doesn't affect Tennessee," he said. "They have one of the shortest teams in the country but they're wide, they're physical, they're athletic and they play so hard. You watch that game over, one play that really resonated with me was in the first minute of the game.
"Williams went to block out Schnider (Herard) and hit him so hard - legally, the right way, with his butt - and just whacked him, sending a message right from the get-go, this is how we're going to play, be ready for a fight. I really respect that. They play the right way."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.