James, Vescovi star as Volunteers cruise past Rebels

Nashville, Tenn.– No. 5 seed Tennessee (22-9, 11-7 SEC) defeated No. 13 seed Ole Miss, 70-55, in the second round of the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena.

Josiah-James Jordan (20 points, seven boards) and Santiago Vescovi (15 points, six boards) led the way in the absence of injured star point guard Zakai Zeigler. Vescovi had three assists and three buckets from beyond the arc for the eighth time in his last nine games.

Rick Barnes’ teams are now 19-0 when holding opponents under 60 points this season.

Volunteers hit 10 3-pointers on the day and outrebounded the Rebels with 38 big compared to 22. Ole Miss kept the game close for a long time because of the 14 defense turnovers made.

Tennessee entered the day looking for momentum after losing to Auburn in the regular season finale and Ole Miss lost a little gas in the tank after a close 67-61 win over South Carolina in the first round of the tournament.

The Volunteers started the game shooting 3 of 4 from beyond the arc and the Rebels fired back when they hit the first three.

Jordan got the ball rolling for Tennessee with two early 3-pointers and a mid-range shot to collect eight points in the first five minutes.

Ole Miss’ hot shooting continued in the first half with big baskets from Jaemyn Brakefield and Myles Burns – who had eight each at 6:29. Tennessee shot 5 of 10 from beyond the arc and has moved the ball around with all five starters on the scoreboard at the point.

After a timeout, the Rebels and Volunteers traded baskets to keep the score tied at 29-29. Vescovi opened Tennessee’s lead with a 3-pointer in the half, but Burns followed with a quick layup — keeping the offense going back and forth.

The Volunteers closed with Vescovi dishing to a wide open Jordan in the corner, leading to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that left the Vols with a 39-33 lead at the half.

Jordan continued his hot shooting in the second half as he nailed a pair of free throws and then hit from beyond the arc to accrue 16 in the game and put the Volunteers up 46-37 with 15 minutes remaining.

Amaree Abram and Matthew Murrell led a quick second-half charge with a pair of buckets to close the gap, but Tyreke Key’s 3-pointer extended the Vols’ lead to 55-48 with 11:07 remaining before a media timeout.

Ember Key sparked a 12-2 run that turned the game around and put the Volunteers in position to win, with the Tennessee crowd roaring. The score slowed down the game unwound and Tennessee called a timeout with 4:00 minutes left to gather themselves.

After a timeout, the Volunteers put their foot on the gas and closed the game out with a 15-5 run to move on to the quarterfinals.

Until Next Time

Tennessee will face 4-seed Missouri in the tournament quarterfinals on Saturday at 3pm ET – the game will be televised on ESPN.

Ole Miss (12-20, 3-15 SEC) was eliminated from the tournament.