KNOXVILLE — The ninth-ranked Tennessee men’s basketball team trailed 21st-ranked Ole Miss by 12 points with nine minutes left Saturday afternoon.
Thompson-Boling Arena was filled to the top row with fans desperately trying to lift shorthanded UT back into the game, but the Volunteers were gassed. Saturday was their second game in three days, their third in seven days, and they still had just six scholarship players.
One of those six players, senior point guard Bobby Maze, was too tired to contain Ole Miss’s Chris Warren and had to sit on the bench. Maze had steadied the Vols through a turbulent two-week stretch, but he hit a wall he couldn’t overcome against the physical Rebels.
Maze stayed on the bench. UT finished with more turnovers than assists and got just 11 combined points on 5-for-25 shooting from Scotty Hopson, Skylar McBee and Renaldo Woolridge.