Pregame Thoughts

No. 15 Tennessee survived against LSU in yesterday's opening round game of the SEC Tournament.

The 59-49 win certainly wasn't pretty, but at this point in the year a win's a win. But today the Vols face a totally different test.

Today's quarterfinal contest matches up Tennessee with an Ole Miss team that probably should have won in Knoxville two months ago. The Rebels led January's regular season match-up by 12 points with nine minutes to play, but the Vols battled back to force overtime and ultimately win by three.

Today's rematch is a tough one to pick. It's hard to know how Ole Miss will handle today's circumstances.

On one hand it's become clear over the last couple days that an extra day off this time of year might not be a great thing. Teams that had already played a game pulled off three huge upsets yesterday in the Big East Tournament, and it could have been four if not for a buzzer beater by West Virginia.

We are seeing another example right here in this arena, as Alabama has hung tight with Kentucky in today's first game at Bridgestone Arena.

But in each those games, the team that played the day before had more to gain with a win. The teams that had a bye were already NCAA Tournament locks.

That's the opposite of what we have today. Today, the team coming off the bye (Ole Miss) has to have a win. The team that played yesterday (Tennessee) is an NCAA Tournament lock.

I think that factor outweighs the fact that the Rebels haven't played a game in this arena yet.

My Pick: Ole Miss 69-64

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2:47 p.m. CST: Ole Miss doesn't seem to be having the trouble most other teams have had when playing in this gym for the first time. The Rebels have already knocked down three 3-pointers, including two by Chris Warren. The Vols are doing a better job of getting inside the Rebels zone defense today than they did in yesterday's win against LSU, and it's led to better offense for UT. Ole Miss leads 13-10 with 14:48 to play in the first half.

2:56 p.m. CST: J.P. Prince is making his rare appearance as a perimeter threat. The senior has knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and has eight points in the early going. Zach Graham has matched Prince with eight points for the Rebels, including two shots from 3-point range. He entered today averaging just 8.8 points per game. The Rebels lead 18-15 with 11:45 left before the half.

3:05 p.m. CST: What a drastic change from yesterday's contest, as the Vols lead 26-25 with 7:48 left in the first half. That's already nine more points than Tennessee and LSU combined for in the first half yesterday. Both the Vols and Rebels have come out gunning from 3-point land. Cameron Tatum has joined Prince with a pair of makes from long range, while the Rebels have hit 6-of-7 from 3 in the early going.

3:16 p.m. CST: After Ole Miss went back up with a 6-0 run, Tennessee reeled off eight straight of its own and leads 34-31 with 1:50 left until halftime. Tatum knocked down another pair of 3-pointers during that last run of action, and he's played well over the last stretch of games. With Scotty Hopson now 0-for-12 from the floor in this tournament, one has to think we'll could see a lot of Tatum in this one.

3:30 p.m. CST: It's now halftime, and we have the tight game I expected entering this contest. The Rebels lead 35-34 after Terrico White scored the final four points of the half. The Rebels came out on fire from 3-point range, hitting six straight shots from long range. However, they went on to miss their final six 3-pointers in the half. Graham leads the Rebels with 11 points, with White and Warren contributing nine and seven, respectively.

Meanwhile, Tatum and Prince provided over half of the Vols points in the half. Tatum led the team with 13 points in the half, and Prince added 10 as they combined to go a perfect 6-for-6 on 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes. The Vols had no other player with more than four points, and they'll need a third scorer to step up in the second half if they're going to move on to face Kentucky tomorrow.

3:49 p.m. CST: We still have the same closely-contested game we had at the half. The Vols got up three, but Warren came down and hit a 3-pointer to knot the score 44-44 at the under 16 TV timeout. This is the second time I've seen Ole Miss this season, and if they're not an NCAA Tournament team I don't know what is. The Rebels beat Kansas State this season, and they've only had one bad loss. They definitely pass the eye-ball test.

4 p.m. CST: Renaldo Woolridge had played a grand total of four minutes in Tennessee's past seven games after going 1-for-17 from long range in the team's nine games before that. But Woolridge entered for an injured Steven Pearl and hit a key 3-pointer as the Vols went on a 9-0 run to take the lead. Ole Miss once again bounced back, though, as Warren hit back-to-back 3-pointers to narrow the margin to three. The Vols lead 53-50 with 11:43 left in the game.

4:14 p.m. CST: You win close games by doing little things by making free throws. Right now Tennessee is, Ole Miss isn't, and the Vols lead 59-54 with 7:51 to play. The Rebels are just 4-for-12 from the line in this half, while the Vols have made 10-of-12 shots from the charity stripe since the break. Right now, that's just about all that's separating these teams.

4:28 p.m. CST: I recant my statement that Ole Miss looks like an NCAA Tournament team. The Rebels are talented, but they just don't have what it takes to beat decent teams. Warren has turned the ball over six times in the second half and the team is now shooting 37 percent from the field for the game. That's after shooting 46 percent in the first half. The Vols have taken control and lead 67-56 with 3:47 to play.

4:44 p.m. CST: Nashville's hotel and restaurant industries can rejoice. We'll officially get a match-up tomorrow between Kentucky and Tennessee, as the Vols come out of this one with a 76-65 victory over the Rebels. The Vols again got the job done because of their defense today, holding the Rebels to 30 second half points. I don't know the exact shooting percentage for Ole Miss in the final 20 minutes, but it had to be somewhere around 30 percent.

The Vols looked much better today than yesterday, and should go into tomorrow's game with the Wildcats feeling a little better about themselves than they did coming into today. Of course, it will take another step up in level of play to take down the nation's second-ranked team tomorrow for a second time this season.