KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It wasn't pretty, but 18th ranked Tennessee survived an upset minded Ole Miss squad with a 66-60 overtime win on Wednesday night in Thompson Boling Arena.
Vols guard Santiago Vescovi hit some clutch shots down the stretch to help secure the win.
With Tennessee down 48-41 with under four minutes to go, he made a three-pointer while getting fouled. He finished a four-point play to trim the Ole Miss lead down to three.
Tennessee trailed 51-48 with just over a minute to go, Vescovi nailed another three ball to tie the game.
In overtime with the game tied at 56, Vescovi got a steal, squared up from deep and knocked in another three. The Vols never tied or trailed again after that.
"I'm comfortable with it, coaches have been giving me a lot of confidence to take those shots," Vescovi said after the game. "If it's one of of my teammates, we are all cool with it. I trust all of them to take that shot, today it was me and it went in so it was good."
The Vols got off to a sluggish start against a short-handed Ole Miss team that was missing their leading scorer in Jarkel Joiner and had other players missing due to coronavirus. Their first made basket didn't come until a little under eight minutes into the game on a made layup from John Fulkerson, who set the Tennessee career games played record with an appearance in the game.
The Vols struggled on offense shooting 37.7 percent from the floor, marking their third straight game shooting under 40 percent. Tennessee had 19 turnovers too.
They still get the win, which is their first in SEC play. Tennessee has a 1-1 record in conference now,
Next up for the Vols is a road matchup with 21st ranked LSU on Saturday.
