College Hoops

Vescovi’s 22 Help Lead No. 7 Vols to 63-59 Triumph at Ole Miss

Vescovi’s 22 Help Lead No. 7 Vols to 63-59 Triumph at Ole Miss


OXFORD, Miss. – Lockdown defense in the second half and an explosive offensive effort from Santiago Vescovi proved to be the difference Wednesday, as No. 7 Tennessee escaped with a win at Ole Miss Wednesday in its SEC opener, 63-59.
 
The Volunteers (11-2, 1-0 SEC) fell behind by as many as 10 points in the first half and trailed for nearly 22 minutes of game time but were able to secure their first true road win of the season and begin conference play in the win column.
 
It marks the second straight season in which Tennessee has erased a double-figure deficit to come from behind and defeat the Rebels. Last season in Knoxville, the Vols came back from down 12 to defeat Ole Miss in overtime, 66-60.
 
Vescovi led the way offensively for Tennessee this time around with a season-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting—his eighth career 20-point game and second this season. Vescovi also converted five 2-point field goals—surpassing his previous season-high of two.
 
Jonas Aidoo had a standout performance on the boards for Tennessee with a career-high 13 rebounds—six offensive—and eight points in a career-high 29 minutes.
 
Zakai Zeigler was the second Vol in double figures Wednesday, shooting just 2-for-9 from the field but chipping in 13 points—thanks to a 9-for-10 performance at the free-throw line.
 
Defensively, Tennessee held Ole Miss’ leading scorer—Matthew Murrell, who entered Wednesday averaging 15.6 points per game—to just five points on 1-for-11 shooting. Murrell was defended primarily by UT sophomore Jahmai Mashack, who finished the game as a team-high +12 in 22 impactful minutes.

As a team, Ole Miss shot just 28 percent in the second half, compared to 46 percent in the first half.

 

After the Vols trailed by six points at halftime and had played from behind for almost the entirety of the first half, Tennessee’s defense put on the clamps coming out of the break—forcing Ole Miss to misfire on seven of its first eight field goal attempts of the period.

 

The Vols’ shutdown defense allowed the offense to catch up on the scoreboard, as Tennessee outscored Ole Miss 8-2 in the opening 6:16 of the second half to knot the score up at 36.

 

Tennessee and Ole Miss traded blows for the next two minutes of game time until the Vols rattled off a 12-2 run—kickstarted by a pair of baskets from Olivier Nkamhoua and capped off by a dunk from Aidoo—that gave the Vols a 52-45 lead.

 

The Vols didn’t relinquish…

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