Josiah-Jordan James returns as No. 8 Tennessee blitzes Mississippi State, 87-53

The game wasn’t supposed to play out like this. No. 8 Tennessee wasn’t supposed to make it look so easy in a matchup of two top-ten defense in college basketball. But the Vols did just that, from start to finish, in an 87-53 win over Mississippi State Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Tennessee (12-2, 2-0 SEC), with the No. 1-ranked defense in the KenPom.com ratings, had its best offensive outing of the season. Santiago Vescovi scored all 14 of his points in the first half, leading five Vols in double-figures. Zakai Zeigler had a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 10 assists, Uros Plavsic and Olivier Nkamhoua scored 10 each while going a combined 10-for-10 from the floor. Freshman wing Julian Phillips had 11 points and seven rebounds.

And on top of it all, Josiah-Jordan James returned from the knee soreness that kept him out of the last four games, scoring eight points with four assists in 17 minutes. The Vols shot 69.2 percent percent from the floor and 57.1 percent from the 3-point line while recording a season-high 28 assists on 35 made shots.

Mississippi State (11-3, 0-2), with the No. 6-ranked defense that entered the game giving up only 54.5 points per game, got 15 points from Tyler Stevenson.

The lead in the first half was as much as 29 and got to 30, at 57-27, with 15:49 left in the second half, after Ziegler hit a deep three at the end of the shot clock and, on the next possession, Phillips grabbed an offensive rebound and scored in the paint.

Plavsic scored on back-to-back possessions to get the lead to 34. Zeigler hit an open three to make it 70-37, then Jahami Mashack scored to build the lead to 35. Then James hit a three to make it a 36-point game.

Vols started first half on 16-0 run, led 46-22 at halftime

Tennessee started the game on a 16-0 run, shot 63.0 percent from the field (17-27) and 64.3 percent from the 3-point line (9-14), leading by as many as 29 before taking a 46-22 score into halftime. 

Vescovi scored 14 points in 18 minutes in the first half, going 4-for-6 from the 3-point line. Nkamhoua had eight points, going 4-for-4 from the floor and Julian Phillips had five points and five rebounds in 14 minutes.

James played nine minutes in teh first half, scoring five points on 2-for-4 shooting to go with two assists and a steal. 

Mississippi State started 0-for-5 from the floor while Tennessee scored the game’s first 16 points. The Bulldogs didn’t score until the 13:24 mark of the first half and it came on a Jonas Aidoo goal tend call. 

Tennessee scored 14 points off nine State turnovers and held the opponent to 2-for-11 shooting from the 3-point line. 

Josiah-Jordan James (knee) makes return after missing four games

Tennessee senior wing Josiah-Jordan James (knee soreness), who had missed the last four games and eight of the first 13 this season, made his return at the game’s first media timeout, with 15:14 left in the first half. It was his first appearance since a December 7 win over Eastern Kentucky.

Rick Barnes said during his media availability before practice on Monday that James was progressing toward a return.

“He is doing better,” Barnes said. “He is starting to work his way back in. We will see what that leads to, but he is working his way back in.”

James, who had his knee scoped in the spring and had three injections done in October, played the first three games of the regular season, then missed four straight games. He returned for two games, but is missing his fourth straight game since then.

He played 17 minutes off the bench against EKU on December 7 after playing 14 against Alcorn State three days earlier.

Up Next: No. 8 Tennessee at South Carolina, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network

Tennessee is back on the road at South Carolina on Saturday, a 3:30 p.m. ET start on SEC Network. The Vols return home to host Vanderbilt on January 10, a 9 p.m. game, and later in the month host Kentucky (January 14) and Georgia (January 25). Tennessee makes the return trip to Mississippi State (January 17) and also goest to LSU (January 21).

Texas, the final non-conference game on schedule, will be played January 28 at Thompson-Boling Arena in the Big 12-SEC Challenge.