Starkville, MS – A strong final push and standout second-half showings from Zakai Zeigler and Julian Phillips propelled No. 9 Tennessee to a gritty road win Tuesday night at Mississippi State, 70-59.
Tennessee (15-3, 5-1 SEC) was playing Tuesday without two starters—Santiago Vescovi (injury) and Tyreke Key (illness).
Making his first start since November, Zeigler posted a career-high 24 points—16 of which came in the second half—along with a career-high-tying six rebounds and four assists in a career-high 40 minutes.
In the second half, Zeigler was 5-for-6 from the field, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range. His 16 second-half points were the most by a Vol in any half of any game this season.
Phillips authored his highest-scoring SEC game as a Vol and second-career double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds, also coming on strong after halftime with 13 second-half points.
Josiah-Jordan James, making his first start since November, was the third Vol to score in double figures with 13 points and three made 3-pointers.
As a team, Tennessee was 8-for-9 from 3-point range in the second half.
Facing a two-point deficit with just over nine minutes to play, the Vols hit eight of their final 10 shots to secure the road win. Trailing 46-44, Phillips got Tennessee’s final spurt started with a putback dunk off a missed layup that tied the game—the first two points of a 6-0 run that Phillips rattled off by himself to put the Vols in front by four at 50-46.
After Mississippi State responded with a three and then Zeigler answered with five straight points of his own, Tennessee pulled in front by six points at 55-49 with 5:59 left.
With Tennessee having built the six-point lead, Mississippi State responded with 3-pointers on two straight possessions—answered by the Vols both times with a three, the first by Zeigler and the second by James.
After the teams traded misses on each end of the court, Olivier Nkamhoua tacked on a third straight 3-pointer for the Vols to push Tennessee’s lead to nine points with 2:48 remaining.
Overall, Tennessee closed the game on a 12-4 run after the Bulldogs pulled within three points for a second straight possession with 4:51 to go.
Despite making just five of its first 20 shot attempts to start the game and not holding a lead in the first half, Tennessee was able to knot the game up at 23 at halftime thanks to a 13-4 run to end the half.
The UT Vols scored just 10 points in nearly 15 minutes to open the game and trailed by nine points before a three from James kickstarted the run to end the half.
Overall, the Vols scored 13 points in the final 5:03 of the half as compared to 10 points in the first 14:57. Tennessee and Mississippi State shot 32 and 31 percent from the field for the half as a whole, respectively.
Zeigler led Tennessee with eight first-half points—including six in the run to end the half. As a team, the Vols recorded 11 first-half turnovers.
Zeigler Goes The Distance
In the absence of Tyreke Key and Santiago Vescovi, Zakai Zeigler played all 40 minutes of Tuesday’s win, becoming the first Vol to play 40 minutes in a regulation game since Jordan Bowden at Missouri on January 7th, 2020.
Bounceback Win
Tennessee has now won nine straight games following a loss. The Vols have not lost consecutive games since the 2021 postseason.
Next Up For UT Men’s Basketball
The Tennessee Vols basketball team is back on the road in just four days at LSU on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 3:00pm CT / 4:00pm ET on ESPN.
