Each of the top four seeds in next week’s Southeastern Conference men’s basketball tournament will have lost at least one of its last four regular-season contests.
That doesn’t make Tennessee coach Rick Barnes feel any better.
The No. 4 Volunteers clinched a double bye into the quarterfinals of the inaugural 16-team SEC extravaganza Wednesday night when Missouri lost at Oklahoma, but then Tennessee proceeded to lose 78-76 at Ole Miss after leading by nine in the first half.
“I told our team that I thought Ole Miss wanted the game more, which is always disappointing,” Barnes said in a news conference after his Vols slipped to 24-6 overall and to 11-6 in SEC play. “We didn’t deserve to win this basketball game. When you let a team get comfortable and you’re not as aggressive and you’re not playing smart, the offensive rebounding can just take the wind out of your sail. They did a great job of getting there.
“They had 46 points in the paint, so I don’t know what else to say other than I’m disappointed. Most of the time in games like this, I think you get what you deserve, and we deserved to lose.”
Barnes, who in recent weeks had been praising senior guards Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack and Chaz Lanier as the Vols won seven of eight games entering Oxford, did not hold back his displeasure with the performances of 6-foot-11 junior forward Felix Okpara and 6-9 sophomore forward Cade Phillips.
Okpara, the former Hamilton Heights standout, had 13 points and seven rebounds, but the Vols were overwhelmed inside by 6-8 Jaemyn Brakefield and 6-6 Dre Davis, who were playing in their final home game for the Rebels (21-9, 10-7). Brakefield scored all 19 of his points in the second half, including the winning putback with 7.5 seconds remaining, while Davis tallied 13 points and 10 rebounds.
“I don’t think Felix had one of his better games,” Barnes said. “He’s a guy who normally really protects the rim for us, but they went at him and had their way with him. Brakefield just had his way with us. We tried different guys on him, but he did whatever he wanted to.
“When a player like that starts feeling good, the rim opens up bigger, but he really fought hard to get space where he wanted it.”
Even more concerning to Barnes was Phillips, who averages 14.5 minutes per game but hasn’t reached that combined in the past two contests, which includes last Saturday’s 79-76 win over Alabama. Phillips played six minutes against the Rebels.
“We didn’t think he was locked in,” Barnes said. “He comes in and fouls a 3-point shooter and fouls 75 feet from the basket. We just didn’t feel like he was locked in.”
Tennessee is now turning its attention to its home finale against last-place South Carolina (12-18, 2-15) on Saturday (2 p.m. on SEC Network), the final day of the regular season for SEC teams. Should the Vols prevail and Alabama lose at Auburn, they would be the third seed next week in Nashville behind Auburn and Florida.
A win by the Crimson Tide in Auburn would clinch the third seed for them regardless of the outcome inside the Food City Center, which Barnes hopes is more preferable than the outcome in Oxford.
“I’ve got no problem with our offense, because they’re a good defensive team,” Barnes said. “My problem is that they got to 78 points. They deserved to win.”
Praising the Vols
Several minutes after soaking in a successful senior night for his program, Ole Miss coach Chris Beard had plenty of praise for the Vols.
“We had five turnovers in a game against a Coach Barnes-coached team, and that’s unheard of,” Beard said. “Look, Tennessee was No. 1 for a long time and had a little bit of a hiccup early in SEC play, which is understandable given how good the league is. They had won seven of eight coming in, and I think they’re in a good position where the national narrative is more on Auburn winning our league or this team or that team.
“Tennessee is kind of quiet right now, but let’s not forget this was the No. 1 team in the country with a Hall of Fame coach and several all-conference players.”
Odds and ends
ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi dropped Tennessee to the top projected No. 2 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament, with Florida replacing the Vols as the fourth 1 seed. … Zeigler’s 15 assists are the most in 20 years by an SEC player in a league road game. … Lanier became the third player in Vols history to surpass 100 3-pointers in a season, joining Chris Lofton and Santiago Vescovi.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.