Starkville - Mississippi State had ample opportunity to pick up an upset over #9 in front of a rowdy Humphrey Coliseum crowd Tuesday, but the Volunteers proved to be better down the stretch handing the Bulldogs a 70-59 loss,
Tennessee was without its starting backcourt in Tyreke Key and Santiago Vescovi due to injury, but the Vols had one of the best sixth men in the SEC Zakai Zeigler step up. The 5'9" sophomore went off for a career-high 24 points while playing all forty minutes, but he didn't get off to the best start.
The Mississippi State defense dominated most of the first half forcing 11 Tennessee turnovers, five of them from Zeigler. The Bulldogs had gotten out to a 19-10 lead but the Vols inched their way back into it by holding Mississippi State to only four points in the final six and a half minutes of the period, and a 6-0 run with four points from Zeigler and a bucket from Josiah-Jordan James evened it up at 23-23 going into the break.
The offenses began to break out in the second half as Shakeel Moore scored 20-points for the Bulldogs while Tolu Smith added an 11-point 10-rebound double-double, but it wasn't enough to combat Tennessee's offensive explosiom.
The Vols shot 8/9 from three in the 2nd half including 4/4 from Zeigler. Five-star freshman Julian Phillips played up the hype and was a jack-of-all trades as he scored 18 points while knocking down two threes and using his athleticism for some easy buckets in the paint.
Tennessee stretched out to a six-point lead but the Bulldogs got right back in it as Moore drew a few fouls driving into the paint while Dashawn Davis stuck a three in transition to out State up 44-42. Julian Phillips went right back to work scoring six consecutive Tennessee points and the Vols never looked back from there as they hit six of their last seven field goal attempts while Mississippi State missed seven of its last eight.
The Bulldogs have been competitive, but close losses won't do you any good and a three game losing skid puts them at 1-5 in the SEC, tied for last place with Ole Miss. They'll have a chance to improve on that when they host Florida on Saturday,
