Tennessee’s red-hot February came to a crashing halt very late on Tuesday night in Columbia, Missouri. The Vols lost 73-69 to snap a four-game winning streak with wins in eight of their last nine.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie led Tennessee with 19 points and six assists. Nate Ament added 17 despite a tough shooting night (5-14). Felix Okpara had a strong game with 15 points (7-7 FG) and eight rebounds.
Advertisement
Tennessee had a dream start to the game. The Vols opened up a 12-2 lead in the opening minutes and were set to take control of the game.
Unfortunately, the next 15 minutes were a gradual grind to see Missouri slowly inch their way back towards even, as Tennessee’s offense went into a drought in the middle of the first half. Ament drained a three from the corner for a 21-12 lead with a little under 10 minutes left in the first half. By the time there was a minute left in the half, the Vols had scored just three more points and were suddenly down 26-24. A mini-run of 5-0 on an Ament three and a Gillespie drive-stop midrange jumper at the horn gave Tennessee a 29-26 halftime lead.
But then, Missouri guard T.O. Barrett went absolutely nuclear for the Tigers. Coming into the game averaging just 8.1 ppg, he went off for 28 and was flat-out unstoppable in the second half, as Tennessee’s defense had no answers for him.
And, ironically, Barrett didn’t even attempt a shot from beyond the arc, burning Tennessee with drives to the basket and midrange jumpers. 12-18 on two-point field goals and four free throws did the damage. The Tigers’ other guard, Mark Mitchell, added 23 points, and he also did it without making a single three pointer (0-1). Not often nowadays you see two guards score that much without knocking down any threes.
Advertisement
But they were lethal, and the Vols found themselves trailing late at 64-58 going into the under four minutes timeout. A long Gillespie three brought Tennessee back to within two at 67-65 with two minutes left. Unfortunately, his next attempt clanged off the rim, and Barrett turned it into two points the other way inside of a minute. After a long possession, Ament scored, but with under 30 seconds left, Tennessee had to foul, and the Tigers were able to make their free throws and put the game away.
A tough one to lose, but Tennessee has a chance to right the ship on Saturday at home against Alabama, with tip off set for 6:00 pm ET on ESPN.
