John Fulkerson's perfect first half lifted Tennessee to a 19-point halftime lead Tuesday night, and the Volunteers never let up en route to a 73-48 Southeastern Conference rout of Mississippi in Knoxville, Tenn.

Fulkerson finished with 18 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Volunteers (12-6, 4-2 SEC), while Jordan Bowden and Josiah-Jordan James added 11 points each. James also dished out six of the team's 18 assists. Olivier Nkamhoua scored 10 points off the bench.

Breein Tyree scored a team-high 18 points for the Rebels (9-9, 0-5) but made just 7 of 22 shots. Devontae Shuler added 11, but Ole Miss converted just 19 of 63 attempts from the field, including 8 of 33 in the first half.

Ole Miss led twice for less than a minute early in the first half before Tennessee started taking control. Beginning with a 3-pointer by Jalen Johnson at the 13:08 mark, it ripped off 11 straight points. Bowden's two free throws with 9:30 left made it 21-9.

The margin returned to double figures for good with 7:02 remaining when Uros Plavsic scored for a 26-15 advantage. Fulkerson finished a 6-for-6, 16-point first half with a layup at the 2:46 mark that started a 7-0 burst, finished by two foul shots from Nkamhoua with 28 seconds remaining that made it 42-23 at intermission.

Nkamhoua pushed the margin to 20 with a layup at the 16:46 mark of the second half, and the Rebels simply weren't able to mount any kind of push. Yves Pons sank two foul shots with 11:36 left to up the advantage to 56-32.

Plavsic hit a bucket with 2:50 remaining to make the lead 71-43, and the Volunteers cruised from there.

Tennessee finished at 49 percent from the field and also canned 20 of 24 foul shots. It owned a 24-9 advantage in points off the bench and limited Ole Miss to 5-for-25 shooting from the 3-point line.

--Field Level Media