Jaemyn Brakefield’s tiebreaking putback with 7.5 seconds left capped a massive second-half performance as Ole Miss stunned No. 4 Tennessee 78-76 on Wednesday in Oxford, Miss.
After Tennessee’s Igor Milicic Jr. converted a four-point play with 40 seconds left to knot it at 76-all, Brakefield, a senior who scored all 19 of his points in the second half, grabbed an offensive rebound and put in the game-winner.
Milicic missed a short shot in the lane at the buzzer that would have forced overtime.
The Rebels (21-9, 10-7 Southeastern Conference) got 13 points and 10 rebounds from Dre Davis, plus 13 points from Malik Dia. Matthew Murrell scored 12 as Ole Miss broke a four-game head-to-head losing streak against Tennessee.
Ole Miss won its second game in a row after a three-game skid.
The Volunteers (24-6, 11-6) got 17 points from Jordan Gainey and 15 from Chaz Lanier. Felix Okpara had 13 points and seven boards, while Zakai Zeigler totaled eight points and 15 assists.
The Rebels shot 45.6 percent from the floor, while the Volunteers made 46.3 percent of their shots.
Ole Miss outscored the visitors 46-20 in the paint.
Tennessee built its early lead to 21-14 on Darlinstone Dubar’s layup, but Dia scored nine points and Davis canned a 3-pointer to make it 29-all with 4:38 left remaining in the first half.
Two free throws by Mikeal Brown-Jones allowed Ole Miss to go up 31-30, but an 11-5 run left the Volunteers ahead 41-36 at the break.
Tennessee shot 48.3 percent in the half as Lanier scored 13 points and Zeigler had nine assists. Ole Miss hit 44.8 percent from the field and Dia had 12 points prior to the break.
Early in the second half, Ole Miss went on an 8-0 run that included hoops from Davis, Jaylen Murray, Sean Pedulla and Murrell to tie it 44-all with 15:43 to go.
Brakefield scored 15 of Ole Miss’ 17 points in one stretch, and he tied it 66-all on a three-point play with 5:11 remaining.
–Field Level Media
