Former Hamilton Heights standout Uros Plavsic starts, but Tennessee is again dominated on the interior in loss at Mississippi State

Tennessee forward Uros Plavsic, who played at Chattanooga's Hamilton Heights Christian Academy, started and scored 16 points in the Vols' loss Saturday at Mississippi State. / AP file photo by Mark Humphrey
Tennessee forward Uros Plavsic, who played at Chattanooga's Hamilton Heights Christian Academy, started and scored 16 points in the Vols' loss Saturday at Mississippi State. / AP file photo by Mark Humphrey

A promising first half of basketball for the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday afternoon was followed by a second half in which they were dominated, leading to their third straight defeat.

The Vols lost 86-73 to Mississippi State in Starkville, dropping their season records to 12-9 overall and 4-4 in Southeastern Conference play.

The Bulldogs (14-7, 5-3) trailed 34-28 midway through the game but shot 69% in the second half. They shot 57.1% overall, the highest the Vols have allowed in any game this season. It slightly topped the 56.7% Cincinnati shot in a 78-66 road loss for the Vols on Dec. 18, and the games followed similar paths as Tennessee stumbled after halftime.

"The second half, they just dominated us inside," Vols coach Rick Barnes told reporters after Saturday's game. "We didn't have an answer for it, and that's what's frustrating. Got to give them credit for it. They did exactly what we told our team at halftime that they would do, because they had not shot the ball well in the first half. We knew they would come out and push it at us, try to get early post-ups, try to get it up on the glass and go rebound it. They did."

Tennessee freshman guard Josiah-Jordan James missed the game with a groin injury. Santiago Vescovi and Uros Plavsic - who started in James' place - finished with 16 points each. Jalen Johnson scored 13 points on 3-for-6 shooting from 3-point range and matched Vescovi with five assists, Jordan Bowden added 12 points and John Fulkerson led the team in rebounds with just five.

Reggie Perry had 24 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs, D.J. Stewart added 20 points and was 4-for-5 from 3-point range and Robert Woodard II scored 14 points. Nick Weatherspoon had 11 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, while former Hamilton Heights standout Abdul Ado had six points and six rebounds.

Tennessee returns to competition Tuesday at 7 p.m. EST at Alabama, then hosts Kentucky next Saturday at 1.

photo Mississippi State guard Nick Weatherspoon finished with 11 points, nine assists and eight rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to a home win over Tennessee on Saturday. / AP file photo by Kyle Phillips

SATURDAY'S STAR

While Perry was a force throughout the game, Weatherspoon set the tempo for the Bulldogs during the second half. The 6-foot-2 guard took only five shots - just two in the final 20 minutes - but contributed in all aspects, grabbing four rebounds and handing out six assists with just one turnover. Perry, Stewart and Woodard each scored in double figures in the second half.

STANDOUT STAT

The Bulldogs missed 10 shots in the second half (eight field goals, two free throws), but they grabbed offensive rebounds on seven of those misses, turning them into 10 second-chance points - so even when the Vols had a stop, they were unable to finish the possession.

TURNING POINT

Vescovi had just knocked down a 3-pointer to give Tennessee a 38-33 lead early in the second half, but on the Bulldogs' next possession, they grabbed three offensive rebounds before Fulkerson fouled Perry going up for a shot. Perry knocked down the two free throws, which jump-started a 12-2 Mississippi State run.

WHAT IT MEANS

Yet again, the Vols were beaten down by a physically superior team. In some cases, Tennessee has been able to overcome those shortcomings with finesse and shoot well enough to pull out a victory, but far too many times the result has looked like it did Saturday. The interior game is sorely lacking, and Fulkerson appears to be the only Tennessee player capable of battling for and grabbing a rebound; when your 6-foot-8 and 7-foot-1 interior options combine for three rebounds in 31 minutes of play, you're not going to win much.

photo Tennessee men's basketball coach Rick Barnes talks with guard Santiago Vescovi during the Vols' win on Jan. 18 at Vanderbilt. Vescovi scored 16 points Saturday in a loss at Mississippi State. / AP photo by Mark Humphrey

QUOTABLE

Barnes on opponents' inside success the past two games: "I think it goes not just post players, but perimeter players as well. You can't let players just step right in front of you and post up - you can't do that. There is no defense for it, especially if it gets you that deep. I thought some of that was starting with our guards allowing the guard to get downhill and get us into a rotation. Once you get into a rotation and the ball goes up on the glass, you have smaller guys trying to block out bigger guys because it is just a scramble situation.

"Until we can contain the ball like we're capable of - and we have proven we can do it. We have proven it against good teams. We are just not consistent enough with it. What I told the team is we don't understand yet how hard it is to win at this level night in and night out. That is what I really think. Until they understand how hard it is - and when you have young players, and we are playing with some young guys - until they understand that every possession matters, it won't get fixed."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.

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