Mississippi State Rumbles Past Tennessee, 71-66

 Mississippi State hit 8-of-11 3-point attempts and 56 percent from the floor while capturing a 71-66 rare Southeastern Conference road victory at Tennessee on Tuesday night.

“I said before the game that Mississippi State is the most improved team in our league,” Vols coach Donnie Tyndall said. “I think everyone saw that is probably the case tonight.

Bulldogs Craig Sword (26 points) and Fred Thomas (20 points) combined for 46 points. Sword and Thomas each made 4-of-5 from 3-point distance.

Senior Josh Richardson had a career-high to keep the Vols (13-8, 5-4 SEC) in the game with 30 points. It was the 14th time this season that Richardson led the Vols in scoring. Jordan McRae was the last to score 30-plus with 31 at Missouri last February.

The Bulldogs tried various options defending Richardson, but he managed to do great damage before fouling out late.

“I just tried to keep attacking them,” Richardson said. “I knew they were gonna break down somewhere. I just gotta be better next game so we can get a win.”

Junior Kevin Punter had 10 points. Armani Moore added eight points and 10 rebounds that included a career-high nine on the offensive end.

However, all that was not enough to turn back the Bulldogs and the Vols are losing their grip on slim hopes of making the upcoming NCAA tournament field.

Mississippi State won for the fourth time in six games to even its record at 11-11 and move to 4-5 in the SEC. It was the Bulldogs' first win in a game in February since Feb. 29, 2012, ending a losing streak of 16 games in the month.

On Jan. 7, Tennessee went to Starkville, Miss., and whipped the Bulldogs, 61-47, in the SEC opener.

Mississippi State got its revenge Tuesday at Thompson-Boling Arena.

“I think the biggest difference is our veterans are playing like veterans now,” Bulldogs coach Rick Ray said. “Also, Craig Sword is back to being (himself) and I.J. Ready is playing great, too. I think we are probably the only backcourt I the nation that had their starting backcourt out with back injuries and surgery.”

Down 32-30 at intermission, the Vols trailed by as many as eight points several times in second half before taking a brief lead with 13:31 left and drawing within one point with five minutes left. But the Vols were unable to overcome the deficit and suffered their first loss to Mississippi State since a 62-58 defeat in January 2012.

The Vols battled in the final minutes but were unable to take a lead. Punter connected on a 3-pointer with 2:20 left to bring them within two points at 63-61. Derek Reese missed a dunk with less than a minute left that would have tied the game at 63.

From there, Mississippi State sealed the game as Thomas converted a 3-point play with 52 seconds left, putting the Bulldogs up 66-61. I.J. Ready and Sword made five free throws in the final 37 seconds to finish off the victory.

Richardson scored 10 consecutive points for Tennessee to get the Vols within two at 58-56 with 5:18 left in the game.

But Tyndall saw other numbers for his star point guard that were bothersome.

“I hope Josh is looking at it that he only had one rebound and one steal in 39 minutes and turned it over seven times,” the coach said. “We don’t get hung up on field goals made and field goals attempted. It is those other numbers.”

After the Vols rallied from eight down to take brief lead, the Bulldogs continued their hot shooting from 3-point range and rebuilt that advantage of eight points at 51-43 with 10 minutes left.

Richardson scored seven consecutive points as the Vols went on a 9-0 run to take a 41-40 lead with 13:18 left in the game. The Bulldogs didn't make a field goal for nearly the first eight of the second half before Sword hit a 3-pointer with 12:11 left to give the lead at 44-41.

Mississippi State scored eight of the first 10 points in the second half -- all on free throws -- to build an eight-point lead at 40-32 with 16:51 left in the game.

The Bulldogs held a 32-30 lead at halftime as they shot 12-of-19 in the first half (63.2 percent) led by Thomas (11) and Sword (10). Mississippi State surpassed their entire game total (11-of-36) of field goals from the first meeting in the first half alone. MSU made 4-of-5 3-pointers with Thomas knocking down all three of his attempts.

Mississippi State was red shot to start the game, hitting eight of their first 10 attempts to lead 20-17 with 9:28 left in the half.

Richardson had 11 to lead the Vols in the first half as Tennessee shot 37.5 from the floor.

The Vols return to action on Saturday as they travel to Georgia for a 12 noon tip on ESPN2. Following the Georgia game, Tennessee travels to Vanderbilt and hosts LSU and No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Kentucky in back-to-back games.

When every win means something at this stage of the season, the Vols can ill-afford to let any of them slip through their fingers.

Summary

Mississippi State (11-11, 4-5)

Ready 2-3 4-4 8, Ware 1-6 3-6 5, Daniels 1-2 0-0 2, R. Johnson 2-4 2-2 6, Sword 7-8 8-10 26, Thomas 5-7 6-7 20, Houston 0-2 1-2 1, Bloodman 0-1 0-2 0, Ndoye 0-0 0-0 0, Black 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 19-34 25-35 71.

Tennessee (13-8, 5-4)

Punter 3-8 2-5 10, Richardson 11-19 6-6 30, Hubbs 2-7 0-0 4, Moore 4-10 0-1 8, Owens 2-2 0-1 4, Mostella 0-0 0-0 0, McGhee 0-0 0-0 0, Reese 0-6 1-2 1, Carmichael 2-3 0-0 4, Baulkman 1-5 2-2 5. Totals 25-60 11-17 66.

Mississippi State                         32 39 – 71

Tennessee                                      30 36 – 66

3-Point Goals – Mississippi State 8-11 (Swoard 4-5, Thomas 4-5, Bloodman 0-1), Tennessee 5-20 (Punter 2-4, Richardson 2-6, Baulkman 1-4, Reese 0-2, Hubbs 0-4).

Rebounds – Mississippi State 26 (Ware 8), Tennessee 33 (Moore 10).

Assists – Mississippi State 10 (Bloodman 4), Tennessee 16 (Richardson 5).

Turnovers – Mississippi State 18 (Thomas 6), Tennessee 14 (Richardson 7).

Total Fouls – Mississippi State 20, Tennessee 24.

Fouled Out – Moore, Richardson.

Attendance – 13,268.

(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)