OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team capped its road slate with a narrow 78-76 setback Wednesday night at Ole Miss.

Fourth-ranked Tennessee (24-6, 11-6 SEC) saw its four-game winning streak end at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion despite leading by nine in the first half and by seven with under 11 minutes to go. Senior guard Jordan Gainey led the team with 17 points in the defeat.

The Volunteers held Ole Miss (21-9, 10-7 SEC) without a field goal for a span of 4:03 late in the first half, forcing six straight misses. After the Rebels ended the skid, fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier drilled a 3-pointer—his 101st of the season—at the other end to give Tennessee a game-best nine-point edge, 29-20, with 6:28 left in the frame.

Ole Miss responded with an 11-1 run in just 1:51—it hit two 3-pointers, one 2-pointer and three free throws—to go in front, 31-30, with 4:18 on the first-half timer. Tennessee, though, scored the next five points to go take a 35-30 advantage just 48 ticks later. It retained the five-point cushion, 41-36, at the break, behind 13 points from Lanier and nine assists from Zeigler, the latter a season high in a half for the senior guard.

Tennessee opened the second-half scoring with a three-point by junior forward Felix Okpara, which upped Zeigler’s assist total to 10 and gave the Volunteers an eight-point lead with 18:32 to go. Ole Miss countered shortly thereafter with four straight field goals in just 71 seconds, leveling the score at 44 with 15:43 to go.

The Volunteers went back up by seven, again on a basket from Okpara off an assist from Zeigler, with 10:39 left, but the Rebels once again answered. They used a 9-2 burst to tie the score at 58 exactly two minutes later and went on to claim a 63-61 lead, their first of the second half, with 6:23 to go. Gainey scored the next five points, two from the line and three from beyond the arc, to put Tennessee ahead by three, but a three-point play by senior forward Jaemyn Brakefield tied it at 66 with 5:11 remaining.

Brakefield’s play sparked an 11-4 surge for Ole Miss, which took a four-point advantage, 74-70, with 2:36 to play, after making its fourth consecutive field-goal attempt. It retained the margin into the final minute, but senior forward Igor Miličić Jr., converted a second-chance four-point play to tie it at 74 with 40 seconds left.

Brakefield put Ole Miss back in front, 78-76, on a second-chance layup with 7.5 seconds on the timer. Tennessee had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but missed a shot at the rim to fall by two.

Gainey shot 4-of-9 from 3-point range off the bench en route to his team-best point total, with the four makes matching his most as a Volunteer and setting a new season high. Lanier scored 15 points, 10 of which came in the first 14 minutes, on 6-of-12 shooting.

Okpara totaled 13 points on a 6-of-10 clip, adding a team-best seven rebounds and a game-leading two blocks. Zeigler recorded eight points, a career-high-tying 15 assists and a game-best three steals.

Zeigler, who has posted both 15-assist outings by an SEC player this season and is one of just two players nationally to hit that mark twice in 2024-25, is the only SEC player in the last 20 seasons (2005-25) to do it in a league road game and/or a regulation road game of any kind. He is just the second SEC player to reach 15 assists in a conference game at any location over the last two decades.

Brakefield, who missed his lone field-goal attempt before the break, scored all his game-leading 19 points in the second half and made all eight of his field-goal attempts. Senior guard Dre Davis had 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, half of which came on the offensive end, before fouling out.

Junior forward Malik Dia notched 12 of his 13 points in a first half during which he went 5-of-7 from the floor. Senior guard Matthew Murrell added 12 points for the Rebels.

Tennessee held Ole Miss’ leading scorer, senior guard Sean Pedulla, to seven points on 3-of-11 shooting. He went 1-of-5 beyond the arc, part of an overall clip of 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) for the Rebels that included misses on all eight of their second-half attempts.

However, the victors pulled down 15 offensive rebounds and committed just five turnovers, as well as notched a 46-20 edge in paint points and a 15-2 advantage in fast-break points.

The Volunteers wrap up the 2024-25 regular season Saturday at 2 p.m. when they host South Carolina at Food City Center, live on SEC Network. The team’s seven seniors will be honored after the conclusion of the game.

To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.

TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS POSTGAME NOTES
• Barnes fell to 24-8 all-time against Mississippi’s two SEC schools, including 21-8 at Tennessee and 9-3 over the past four seasons (2021-25).
• The Volunteers are now 9-2 in their last 11 contests versus Ole Miss after posting a 1-7 record in the prior eight games.
• The last four series meetings in Oxford were each decided by four points or fewer, with an average margin of just 2.5 points per game.
• Zeigler recorded assists on five of Tennessee’s first six made field goals in the opening six-and-a-half minutes, seven assists in the first 14 minutes on the team’s 11 makes and nine in the first half on the Volunteers’ 14 makes.
• Miličić’s four-point play was the first for the Volunteers since Feb. 8 at Oklahoma, when he recorded one with 1:56 left in the first half.
• Wednesday marked just the fifth time this season Tennessee has allowed over 35 points in the opening frame of a contest.
• The Volunteers have held a halftime advantage in 21 of their 30 outings this season, including a margin of seven-plus points 13 times, double digits 11 times, 12-plus 10 times, 14-plus eight times, 20-plus four times and 23-plus thrice.
• Brakefield is the first Tennessee opponent to shoot at least 75.0 percent with eight-plus makes since Baylor’s Norchad Omier went 8-of-10 on Nov. 22, 2024, in Nassau, Bahamas.
• Before tallying nine in the opening session Wednesday, Zeigler’s top mark for single-half assists this season was eight, recorded both Nov. 22, 2024 in the first half against Baylor in Nassau, Bahamas, and Dec. 23, 2024, versus Middle Tennessee State in the second half.
• Zeigler, who registered his 10th assist just 1:28 into the second frame on the team’s 15th make of the night, reached double figures for the 13th time as a collegian, including the fifth this season.
• The 15 assists for Zeigler set a new top mark in SEC play, eclipsing the 14 he had Feb. 24, 2024, versus Texas A&M.
• In addition, Zeigler’s 15 assists matched his overall carer best, previously recorded Dec. 23, 2024, against Middle Tennessee State.
• The only other SEC player in the last 20 seasons (2005-25) to amass 15-plus assists in a road game is Missouri’s Phil Pressey, who did it in a non-conference overtime affair at UCLA on Dec. 28, 2012, finishing with 19.
• Zeigler is the lone SEC player with 15-plus assists in league road game over the last 20 seasons (2005-25), with Kentucky’s TyTy Washington Jr., the only other one to do it in any conference affair, accumulating 17 on Jan. 8, 2022, at home versus Georgia.
• The only other Division I player with multiple 15-assist performances this season is Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard, who has achieved the feat three times.
• Zeigler is the fourth Division I player—fifth occurrence—to post 15 assists in a road game in 2024-25, joining Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard (16 on March 1 at San Francisco, 15 on Feb. 25 at Santa Clara), Sacred Heart’s Mekhi Conner (16 on Jan. 23 at Canisius) and Louisville’s Chucky Hepburn (16 on Jan. 21 at SMU).
• Zeigler and the aforementioned Hepburn are the only Power Six players in the last seven years (2018-25) to post 15-plus assists in a conference road game.
• Over the last 20 seasons (2005-25), just seven other Power Six players have reached 15-plus assists in a league road game: Louisville’s Chucky Hepburn (16 on Jan. 21, 2025, at SMU), Providence’s Kyron Cartwright (15 on Dec. 28, 2017, at St. John’s), Michigan’s Derrick Walton Jr. (16 on March 5, 2017, at Nebraska), North Carolina’s Kendall Marshall (16 on Feb. 4, 2012, at Maryland), Illinois’ Demetri McCamey (16 on Feb. 20, 2010, at Purdue), Pittsburgh’s Levance Fields (16 on Feb. 7, 2009, at DePaul) and UCLA’s Darren Collison (Feb. 17, 2007, at Arizona).
• The three steals for Zeigler pushed his career total to 239, moving him past Kentucky’s Wayne Turner (238 from 1995-99) for the No. 11 spot in SEC history.
• Lanier’s first long-range make of the game, just 3:46 into the contest, marked his 100th 3-pointer of the year, making him the third Volunteer—fifth occurrence—to hit triple digits in a season, joining Chris Lofton (118 in 2007-08, 114 in 2005-06, 106 in 2006-07) and Santiago Vescovi (102 in 2021-22).
• Lanier passed Allan Houston (99 in 1990-91) and tied Santiago Vescovi (102 in 2021-22) on the program’s single-season leaderboard, moving from sixth to co-fourth.
• The eight 3-point attempts for Lanier moved his season total to 251, surpassing Santiago Vescovi (246 in 2022-23) for fifth on Tennessee’s single-season list and making him the third Volunteer—fifth occurrence—with at least 250 in a campaign, alongside Chris Lofton (307 in 2007-08, 261 in 2005-06, 253 in 006-07) and Santiago Vescovi (253 in 2021-22).
• Okpara’s two blocked shots upped his season mark to 54, passing Dyron Nix (53 in 1986-87) and tying Armani Moore (54 in 2015-16) for the No. 10 spot in a single campaign by a Volunteer.
• Before hitting four Wednesday, Gainey’s previous season high in made 3-pointers was three, recorded both Nov. 22, 2024, against Baylor in Nassau, Bahamas, and Dec. 14, 2024, at Illinois.
• The only other time Gainey has connected on four 3-pointers at Tennessee was on Nov. 14, 2023, when he shot 4-of-10 versus Wofford in his third game as a Volunteer.
• Fifth-year guard Darlinstone Dubar posted seven points—tied for his third-most this season—to go along with two rebounds and two assists off the bench, shooting 2-of-3 from the floor, splitting his two 3-point attempts and making both his free throws.