Tennessee Basketball Upset by Ole Miss on Senior Night in Oxford

Tennessee did not play enough defense when it mattered most in a loss to Ole Miss on Wednesday night.

Mar 5, 2025; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Chaz Lanier (2) drives against Mississippi Rebels guard Davon Barnes (7) during the first half at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Mandatory Credit: Wesley Hale-Imagn Images | Wesley Hale-Imagn Images

Tennessee did not play enough defense when it mattered most in a loss to Ole Miss on Wednesday night.

Tennessee lost its penultimate game of the regular season in a 78-76 nail-biter at Ole Miss.

Jordan Gainey led the Vols with 17 points off the bench and Chaz Lanier had 15. Zakai Zeigler had eight points with 15 assists.

At the under 16 timeout, Tennessee was up 9-7 and Lanier was cooking early. He had seven of those nine points. Darlinston Dubar hit an early triple to give Tennessee a 12-10 lead. The Vols were shooting the ball well early and were up 21-14 with 11 minutes to go.

The Rebels had an offensive run and cut the lead to 29-26 after an and-one layup. They tied the game after a made triple but Gainey gave the Vols the lead back after making one of two free throws. Gainey then hit another triple to give Tennessee a 35-31 lead with three minutes to go.

Lanier and Jahmai Mashack gave Zeigler his eighth and ninth assists of the half with back to back triples and Tennessee led 41-36.

Felix Okpara got an and-one to go to give Tennessee an eight-point lead to open the second half. Ole Miss then responded with an 8-0 run and tied the game. Gainey stabilized Tennessee with a 3-pointer after a couple free throws by Zeigler.

Okpara dunked an alley-pop in transition and Tennessee led 56-49. Ole Miss then responded with a 5-0 run that Okpara answered with a layup. The Rebels tied the game after a bad turnover by Igor Millicic Jr. that led to a breakout layup. Zeigler hit an important triple to give Tennessee the lead back.

The Rebels took the lead with six minutes to play but Gainey tied it right back up at the line. He then hit a huge triple to put the Vols back up 66-63. Tennessee struggled to stop Jaemyn Brakefield as he had all his points in the second half, including 15 with four minutes to go.

The Vols could not get stops down the stretch and trailed 74-70 with 2:28 to play. Okpara scored off an inbound to make it 72-74. Brakefield then got a huge layup but Millicic then hit a 3-pointer and was fouled. He converted the free throw to tie the game with 40 seconds left.

Brakefield hit a go-ahead floater off an offensive rebound with 7.5 seconds left and Ole Miss led 78-76. Millicic missed at the buzzer and Ole Miss hung on for the win.

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