>> mark: hall, a good looking freshman from tennessee. stone mountain, georgia. long, and gets an opportunity to play with brian williams out and some of the other players out. >> eric: there he is. turn-around. blocked by buckner. gets it back. open look, someone forgot about woolridge. can't make them play. the foul, and loose ball. call it on number 12, chris warren. tennessee is five on the floor. bone on the floor. technically bone and mcbee are walk-ons but not the typical walk-on. bone was scholarship player of to southern illinois. and that shot is short. it's ole miss basketball.

>> mark: tennessee has had great looks. couldn't get it to go down. the shot, the feet squared. they haven't been able to put it in the basket. >> eric: a lot has been made of bruce pearl and his thin roster. but most are fortunate if they have the walk-ons like skylar mcbee. they're division one players. inside, lay-up for polynice. >> mark: one interesting thing with this line-up with tennessee, is that two weeks ago, this group right here was not getting a lot of playing time. the majority of the group on the floor. this is a good opportunity for them. >> eric: zach graham checked in the game! he rips the triple. his first shot is through. >> mark: zach graham has been knocking down the three-point shot consistently for the ole miss rebels who played exceptionally well this year. >> eric: the step-back jumper

with the left hand. coach, this is similar to the start of the game a couple of nights ago on the floor. tennessee struggled early against auburn. >> mark: auburn came in and knocked down ten threes in the first half. tennessee really picked their defensive intensity up in the second half. you'll see a lot of false screen, double high ball screen with ole miss. >> eric: henry gets it over to graham. working that, the foul on the jump shooter. and bruc bruce pearpearl, the j comes off early. >>

e e trying to getarted. they trail ole miss by eight.

>> eric: welcome back, we're at thompson-boling arena. pat summit looking on. her lady vols after a tough season a year ago playing very good basketball. in the 2009/2010 season. speaking of influential head coaches here at tennessee, how about don devoe in the house. >> mark: two phenomenal coaches. don devoe coached great players like tony white and nix and the great players in the area and went to coach at the united states naval academy and did a terrific job there as well. ohio state buckeyes from way back. >> eric: coach doug roth. one of the first g guys to run a

play. >> mark: ole miss comes out in a zone defense, 2-3. >> eric: bobby maze back on the floor. he was on the bench for a while. >> mark: not a lot of ball movement by tennessee. get something going to the rim. >> eric: loose ball is picked up by j.p. prince. >> mark: want to see the ball move against the zone quickly. don't want the ball to stick in your hand. >> eric: off the fingertips of deaundre cranston. and it will stay with tennessee. >> mark: attack the zone, and great ball movement. great man movement. the ball has to move? the pass falls to the floor.

tied up. alternate possession arrow favors ole miss. >> mark: great call. we talked about it earlier a little bit with ole miss. their strength and the scoring amongst the guards. and they create a lot of scoring, ball screen, triple handoff. how well tennessee guards the ball screen. tennessee is quick a lot. tennessee may trap some. >> eric: the jumper is short. tennessee has taken 23 shots already in the ballgame. only made five. posted the lay-up. falls to the floor. and ole miss taken 11 shots. ole miss has taken half the shots that tennessee has, yet they have an eight-point lead. wayne chism. he's going to get an opportunity to go to the

free-throw line. not sure if they're in the man or the zone. ole miss did not do a good job of picking up the ball. and prince has an opportunity to go 89 feet with with the basketball to the rim. >> eric: tennessee attempted 24 shots from the field and ole miss attempted 13, yet ole miss leads by seven points. >> mark: tennessee has a lot of long rebounds. they tracked down loose balls. they've been able to turn those possessions to two or three opportunities for themselves. but hasn't been able to knock down shots. >> eric: ole miss with the lead and the basketbabasketball.

murphy holloway back in the game, number 31 for the rebels. >> mark: andy kennedy wants more patience. inside-outside. two or three ball possessions, and ball reversal. >> eric: the ball ripped away. steal by deaundre cranston! holloway. ole miss, the first team to 20. >> mark: the ole miss basketball team can score. 83 points a game. a number of guys can step up and make the baskets in the break. >> eric: chism on the block. nothing is falling for tennessee, even when they get close to the rim. scotty hopson for two! >> mark: the athleticism! that's up there close to the

rim. >> eric: an a fencive whistle on -- offensive whistle on holloway. >> mark: i like holloway and how he builds a lane. ole miss likes to run and push it. did a nice job of avoiding the charge. scotty hopson. again, concentrating, using his pivot foot. strong to the rim. finishing the play. >> eric: steven pearl goes to the bench, replaced by skylar mcbee. freshman from rutledge, tennessee. >> mark: sometimes the bench is the best friend. >> eric: option goes baseline! a little too strong. coast-to-coast. colony can't find it. offensive rebound!

>> mark: sometimes if you're not happy with the first group, the second group of guys can come in and get an opportunity. they played well. bruce pearl not afraid to go to the bench at all. >> eric: time-out on the r. reginald buckner showi

>> eric: welcome back. rocky top feeling good about themselves, leading tennessee 22-13. taking a look at the sec news and notes. the beat continues for the kentucky wildcats. their best start since pat riley was wearing the short pants. >> mark: i they're for real. they're young but they're for real. >> eric: jarvis varnado a couple of days ago, a triple-double. fantastic performance for the senior from mississippi state, did it against the razor backs. downey, we saw him a couple days ago and he's lit it up so

far this year. >> mark: he has been phenomenal! 29 on the road at auburn. 33 at home against lsu. the little man has been sensational early here in sec play. >> eric: one of the better point guards in the sec. one of the better point guards in the sec, bobby maze at the free-throw line. makes the the first one. he will have another opportunity. >> mark: 86% foul shooter at the foul line. bobby maze has been steady, it's been good for the tennessee basketball team. scoring the ball and directing traffic. >> eric: bobby maze is the reigning sec player of on the week. warren gets inside. knocked away by chism. pearl able to stay and another rebel. it's mississippi basketball! we will have a foul called on

hopson. riding terrico white out of bounds. >> mark: how about the hustle? pearl, this is what you want! guys coming ofbench, giving their teams a lift. earned more playing time right there. keep an eye out for ole miss, the ball screen. the high ball screen. the way they try to generate offense with the perimeter players. >> eric: mcbee caught with a reach-in on holloway. fifth team foul on tennessee. >> mark: too aggressive. anytime two hands touch the to offensive player, automatic foul. if the official sees two hands touch offensive player with the basketball, they will load it up. >> eric: and backcourt. and track it down.

the open look. cranston. hit that shot! mcbee. tennessee has been playing on emotion for a couple of weeks now. when is that bubble going to burst? >> mark: well, that is the question. is this tennessee team good enough to sustain this level? that they played at regardless of the suspension and being down players? >> eric: cleans up the mess inside. [ applause ] >> mark: or at some point does the tennessee team fall back a little bit? that will be the question. >> eric: andy kennedy doesn't like the way things are going. he calls a time-out. well, six seasons ago, the

game that bruce pearl called the miracle on ice. that type of upset. skylar mcbee and tennessee knocking off the top-ranked kansas jayhawks! >> mark: skylar mcbee! he will be remembered for that one for a long time. >> eric: did you feel it was that big of an upset? tennessee winning on their home floor against kansas? >> mark: no question! it was a tremendous upset. kansas is a legitimate one, two, three team in the nation. tennessee just coming off the players suspended. again, a lot of times what happens after players are suspended, it's like too many miles sometime and this is a deep tennessee team. sometimes when there is a shortage of players, the rest of the players rally up and play better. that's what happened against kansas. >> eric: warren can't get the rebound. now he does. picks up the loose ball. stripped away.

with the steal! here comes mcbee. and hopson is fouled. not just one guy that step odd the forefront for the last few weeks but four guys stepped up their game. >> mark: this is the sound of opportunity knocking. they obviously answered the door. bobby maze, he goes to 7.5 to 14. all the guys, j.p. prince, woolridge, kenny hall. again, sometimes less is more. your locker room seems to be happier when there is less guys. guys know that they're going to play, they know the role will be clear. and as bruce pearl told thus morning, sometimes it's a guy like j.p. prince. now i don't have to come in and try to do something spectacular right away. i know i'll play longer. a little more comfortable in the game. [ whistle ] >> eric: we're going have a fa foul called. grabbed the shirt as well as the ball. and zach graham going by him.

tha t kn sog i nda ooh. what's it do? f usicng] whatdo? for my likence. at d? we thor a i ri-- f ye stids ttle cer:ing'ible keeping. star on your own >> eric: one of the most bizarre weeks in tennessee sports coming to a close. with this announcement. moments ago, derek dooley

introduced to the crowd here at thompson-boling arena as the newest coach of the tennessee vols football team. >> mark: he has to be tremendously excited. he has the young kids with the tennessee hat and the tennessee gear. he has to be tremendously excited. what an opportunity for him. this place erupted! you have to feel good about that. >> eric: derek dooley is the son of legendary georgia bulldogs head coach vince dooley and the college football hall of fame. most recently the head man and athletic director at louisiana tech in lufkin, louisiana. he will join us at halftime and you want to stick around for that. a chance to get up close and personal with the new football coach here at tennessee. >> mark: high ball screen for ole miss. you'll see a lot of them. >> eric: trevor gaskins hands it off to warren. warren with the shot. bone hands off to terrico

white. warren, quick trigger from deep. the three-ball for warren. his second three-pointer of the first half. >> mark: tennessee defended the ball screen and guarded it well. warren rose up and knocked one down over top of them. >> eric: bone thought about it and works it around the perimeter. in the paint, back to bone. >> mark: kennedy with confidence in the zone. back to it. >> eric: terrico white has been fairly quiet in the first 17 minutes. >> mark: eric, tennessee will switch a lot of the ball screens. they'll trap some of them. tennessee feels like they're versatile enough to switch them and not allow ole miss to have penetration. >> eric: wayne chism is down on the ground and in pain. >> mark: ankle?

he rolled his ankle a little bit. hopefully not bad.

is around. make a two-foot jump-shot.

>> eric: welcome back to the cellular south halftime report. ole miss rebels taking on the tennessee volunteers. with a look at what is coming up on the sec network, here is mike gleason. >> we bring you hoops action saturday, january 23. at 1:30 eastern, 12:30 central, some of you will see the auburn tigers to travel to

nashville and take on valider built. others will see chris warren travel to baton rouge to take on the lsu tigers. then arkansas goes to big blue country to face patrick it tips off saturday, january 23 at 1:30 12:30 central on the sec network. check your local listings. >> eric: we're at halftime in knoxville. ole miss taking on the tennessee volunteers. we have the first half stalts and -- stats and highlights when we return.

welcome back inside the cellular south halftime report. whit watson and charles davis. andy kennedy has never beat an top-ten team at ole miss. thoughts on the first half? >> the back court is playing very, very well. chris warren and white, 17 points each. but they are getting help from zach graham. it propelled them in the first half. >> whit: the other early game on sec network, alabama and arkansas. arkansas is up. powell makes a lay-in. watch. this steals the inbound pass. no one is looking. and scores again. reggie miller, hogs are up 6-2. later in the first, alabama with a fast-break opportunity. michael washington with the big block against anthony. i need to see it again. >> charles: he used the proper hand to make sure he didn't

foul. miss a free-throw and alabama up 18-12 at that point. second half of your game in a moment. eric collins and mark gottfried return. ole miss up on tennessee 33-28.

>> 33-28. we're getting ready to start

the second half. with mark gottfried, i'm eric collins. talk about the first half of play. tennessee didn't do many things as well, but they're down by five. >> mark: they didn't shoot well from the perimeter. they only made one three-point basket, but they went inside to chism. chism has been the key for them. ole miss on the other hand made threes and stepped up and drilled shots. perfect from the foul line. 11 for 11. if you're andy kennedy on the roey f at tennessee, you have to feel good with where you are sitting at this point in the game. >> eric: if you missed any of the first 20 minutes of play, get you up to speed with the first half highlights. >> mark: like we talked about, ole miss. warren, white. the threes. tennessee going inside. wayne chism. >> -gic: oh has been a workforce in the half first. >> mark: he has had a great first half. rolled his ankle a bit. didn't let it slow him down. >> -gayn: kind of a rarity in the ballgame. we expect an offensive

didugfest but we haven't gotten that. these are two of the top three teams in tertwo of scoring in the sec, but the scoring is way down, as we look at the krystal first half stats joochstats. >> mafirst: we talked about tennessee 4 of 12 from the three-point line. and the teatwo like to play in the 80s. they both have scorers that can generate baskets, so this second half is going to be different than the first. >> -gayn: ole miss shot 32% as a club. misfire on the first shot. in the second half. the bodies flying. no whistle. loose ball picked up. terrico white loses it back over to scotty hopson now. we get a whisodie. it's going to be a foul on terrico white. >> mafirst: thicke are tough calls. you have the guys hustling. getting deflection and getting after the basketball. and inadvertenodiy sometimes have contact. those are tough ones to pick up if you are a player. >> -gayn: second personal foul on terrico white.

no one on either side has more than two fouls. no significant foul trouble for either team. tennessee with bobby maze. working the ball up high against chris warren. gets a sprain from renaldo woolridge. the pull-up jumper. short. ref bound deaundre cranston -- rebound dmpunrt.e refanston. ole misrs one and one in league play. they lost at home against mississithrei state a week ago. three days ago, against the bulldogs. quick trigge sh terrico white misses everything. got him inside. j.p. the baince got a hand on i. and then the offensive. np high. a long wolrer! third of the game for warren. >> mafirst: it doesn't take a lt -f time to let it go. doesn't need a lot of space for a smaller player. >> eric: 13 points now for warren.

>> mafirst: bot fy maoub has heo be more of a play-maker in the absence of tyler pbaiton i and trying to create more offense. [ whistle ] >> -gayn: trying to get the ball out of there. they will call the foul on chris warren. >> mafirst: chris warren from deep. again, hedo ust sizes. np the defende sh playing off of him. four feet behind the line. money! >> eric: well, defensively, chris warren got handsy. they call him for the personal foul. he now has three. andy kennedy is going to take him out of the ballgame. no, he's not. he bals going to take dmpunrt.e cranston out of the game and bring in reginald buckne sh so warren is going to stay on the floor with three personal fouls. >> mark: i think he understands how to play with three. i tell you one thing that andy kennedy when you think about the ole miss team. they found some players in non-traditional ways. this gcall is from orland thre islorida, chris warren is. andy kennedy went down into islorida.

signed him. he's been a great player for ole miss. [ whistle ] >> eric: again. bodies flying, the offensive foul eniel polynice. he has three fouls. >> mark: balance. balance is the key in the game -f basketball. stay o bala oise the basketba

-- knoxville.