No. 7 Tennessee rallies at Ole Miss to win SEC opener, 63-59

OXFORD, Miss. — No. 7 Tennessee survived an upset-minded Ole Miss team on the road Wednesday afternoon, rallying from down 10 points to open Southeastern Conference play with a 63-59 win over the Rebels at SBJ Pavilion.

Tennessee (11-2, 1-0 SEC) got a game-high 22 points from Santiago Vescovi. Zakai Zeigler had 13 points and three assists and Jonas Aidoo had eight points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Olivier Nkmamhoua scored eight points.

Ole Miss (8-5, 0-1) got 18 points from Jaemyn Brakefield and 10 more from Amaree Abram. The Rebels were forced into eight turnovers and had made just seven shots from the field in the second half as the Vols turned up the defensive pressure.

Tennessee led by three with three minutes left when Zeigler drove to the rim and finished in traffic, getting the lead to five with 2:57 to go. After getting his three-point attempt blocked 1:11 left, Zeigler was fouled on a jumper with one second left on the shot clock, putting the Vols up five with two free throws with 1:10 on the clock.

Zeigler hit two more free throws with 29 seconds left, after Ole Miss what would’ve been a go-ahead three with 35 seconds left.

Nkamhoua scored on back-to-back possessions to give Tennessee its first lead since the opening minutes, hitting a fallaway jumper on the baseline to put the Vols up two with 10:24 left in the game.

Meanwhile, Ole Miss made just two shots from the field in the first 9:46 of the second half, as the Vols outscored the Rebels 17-9 to complete their rally from down 10. Vescovi was next, hitting a foul-line jumper to get the lead to four, then Jahmai Mashack added a free throw after a steal to put Tennessee up 48-43 with 9:11 to go.

Aidoo dunked at the 7:52 mark to put the Vols up seven then, after an Ole Miss three, the sophomore center came up with back-to-back blocks on one possession to keep the Rebels off the scoreboard.

Vols trailed at halftime for first time this season

Tennessee trailed at halftime for the first time this season, down 34-28 after an ugly first half.

The deficit was as much as 10 points after a 7-0 Ole Miss run, capped by a Theo Akwuba jumper with 8:24 left in the first half.

The Vols got back within four on a Vescovi three with 3:34 left before half, forcing an Ole Miss timeout, but it was the last made field goal of the half for the visitors.

Tennessee committed three shot-clock violations in the half — one on the first possession of the game and another coming out of a media timeout — and allowed Ole Miss to shoot 46.2 percent from the field while the Rebels won the rebounding battle 17-15. Ole Miss scored nine points off seven Tennessee turnovers.

Vescovi scored 10 points in the first half, going 4-for-9 from the field and 2-for-5 from the 3-point line. Six other Vols scored in the first half, but none had more than four points. Tennessee finished the opening half shooting 37.5 percent from the floor and 25.0 percent from the 3-point line, while Ole Miss shot 46.2 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from the 3-point line.

Abram led Ole Miss in the first half with 10 points of his won, going 4-for-9 from the field and 2-for-5 from the 3-point line.

Up Next: Tennessee vs. Mississippi State, Jan. 3, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2

The Vols will host Mississippi State on January 3 in the SEC home opener at Thompson-Boling Arena. The game will start at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

The January SEC schedule for Tennessee also includes home games against Vanderbilt (January 10), Kentucky (January 14) and Georgia (January 25). The Vols play at South Carolina (January 7), at Mississippi State (January 17) at 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.