Tennessee 61, Mississippi State 47: Kevin Punter scored 15 points as the visiting Volunteers opened their SEC schedule with a win over the Bulldogs.

Josh Richardson totaled 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals for Tennessee (9-4, 1-0), which won its fifth straight game and moved to 7-1 in its last eight. Devon Baulkman contributed 10 points and six rebounds and Derek Reese notched eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds off the bench for the Volunteers.

Gavin Ware finished with 12 points and nine rebounds for Mississippi State (7-7, 0-1), which came into conference play having won two of its last three games. Craig Sword used a 7-of-8 shooting performance from the free-throw line to offset a modest 1-of-2 showing from the field, totaling nine points, Trivante Bloodman registered eight points and Travis Daniels scored seven points with five boards for the Bulldogs, who shot 30.6 percent from the field.

Tennessee scored the first 12 points, including five from Punter, but after a Mississippi State timeout the Bulldogs answered with a 12-0 run of their own, led by five points from Ware, to knot the game at 12-12 with 6:07 left until halftime. A pair of Ware free throws pushed Mississippi State ahead 23-22 late in the period before Baulkman hit a 3-pointer and Tariq Owens split a pair of free throws to give the Volunteers a 26-23 edge after 20 minutes.

After the break, Daniels tipped in an Oliver Black miss to pull the Bulldogs within 26-25 in the opening minute but Tennessee answered with a 22-5 surge to take full control, going up 48-30 with just under nine minutes remaining. Mississippi State used a 15-5 run to get back within 53-45 with 2:20 left, but a 3-pointer from Reese stopped that spurt and free throws from Robert Hubbs III and Richardson helped secure the win for the Volunteers.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Tennessee shot 10-of-20 from 3-point range, while Mississippi State connected on one of its nine attempts. ... The Bulldogs, who entered play allowing opponents an SEC-low 29.3 rebounds per game, yielded 44 to the Volunteers while grabbing 28. ... Tennessee F Armani Moore, who totaled 13 points, 12 rebounds and fell just three assists short of the second triple-double in program history last time out, went scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting while recording four rebounds, two steals and one block.