Tennessee focuses on inside offense ahead of Mississippi St. matchup

The remedy is simple for the Tennessee men's basketball team: start making more layups.

An abundance of missed shots at the rim cost the Volunteers a Southeastern Conference game Saturday at Kentucky, a contest that Tennessee led by 14 points at halftime. The 74-71 loss also cost them a spot in the Top 25 rankings.

When the Volunteers (16-7, 6-4 SEC) oppose Mississippi State (11-12, 3-7) on Wednesday night in Starkville, Miss., they will attempt to get back on track.

"These guys will bounce back," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. "They have too much pride. They work too hard. Their work ethic is too good.

"We have not reached the ceiling with this team, and that's a good thing right now."

Tennessee's shortcomings on finishing at the rim have been an issue throughout the season. The Volunteers' inability to convert Saturday -- Tennessee missed four of its seven layup attempts -- led to Tennessee's four-game winning streak ending.

Freshman sensation Nate Ament has been doing his part for the Volunteers. He scored 28 points in a victory over Ole Miss last week and poured in 29 against Kentucky.

In addition to missed layups, Ament lamented his team going just 17 of 25 (68%) at the free-throw line.

"We've got to make shots at the rim and free throws, and we've got to be mentally tougher," he said.

Mississippi State will enter the game coming off an 88-68 loss to then-No. 21 Arkansas on Saturday. The Bulldogs allowed a 20-2 run early in the first half and never recovered. Mississippi State trailed by 16 after that sequence and never got closer than 13 points in the second half.

Against Tennessee, the Bulldogs will need to shore up some of their defensive deficiencies.

"Point-of-attack defense," Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said, referring to where the team has struggled. "We are not doing a good enough job on a consistent basis with old-fashioned guarding the basketball.

"Too many times the offenses are getting the ball where they want to go. (Opponents) are getting us in rotation where this defense is not built to be in rotation. And we're not providing the resistance needed to keep offenses from where they are trying to get."

Josh Hubbard, the Bulldogs' leading scorer at 20.6 points per game, led the team with 16 against the Razorbacks.