Ole Miss losing streak extended in road blowout at Tennessee

Published 10:11 pm Tuesday, January 21, 2020

The Rebels’ trip to Knoxville on Tuesday night was a rocky one.

Ole Miss struggled from the tip on both sides of the ball against the Tennessee Volunteers, falling down early on their way to a 73-48 loss.

The Rebels now have lost six in a row.

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From the start, Ole Miss appeared outmatched. The Rebels led Tennessee 5-4 early, neither team scoring well in the first five minutes. But that’s when things got out of hand. Ole Miss would never lead in the game again.

First half woes extended from both sides of the ball. Ole Miss was held scoreless over the final 3:19 of the half, a half in which they shot 26-percent and only assisted on one bucket. Meanwhile, Tennessee shot 52-percent in that opening half of play in which they took a 42-23 lead to the break.

Ole Miss came out of the half a little more sharp, getting two quick buckets in transition to spark a potential comeback run. That run never seemed to come. Trailing by a maximum of 28 points, the Rebels were able to keep things from getting super embarrassing. Regardless, they were never able to slow down Tennessee. The score read 73-48 at the final buzzer.

Coming into the game, it was senior guard Breein Tyree carrying the offensive load for a struggling Rebel team. The big question marks arose with which teammates would be able to step up and help Tyree and Ole Miss pick up their first SEC win. On Tuesday, neither Tyree nor his help showed up.

Tyree would finish with 19 points, but shot just 7 of 22 in the process, far from his most efficient game. Blake Hinson shot 2 for 11. As a team, the Rebels shot 30.2-percent and 23.1-percent from three.

Defensively, the woes came inside for Ole Miss. The team has struggled finding consistent play from big men on both sides of the ball. Against Tennessee, the Rebels held opposition to 29.4-percent from three point land. However, Tennessee shot 59.3-percent on their two point attempts.

If there’s any positives in the game, it would be the shooting from Devontae Shuler in the second half. Shuler, who has really struggled scoring, shot 3 of 5 down the stretch late.

With the loss, Ole Miss falls to 0-5 in the SEC. Their road trip continues, with their next game coming Saturday afternoon at Georgia.