Mike Strange: Tennessee basketball is back up again

When they're hot, they're hot. And when they're not...well, go away for a while and wait for them to get hot again.

Because eventually they will. For a while, and then, well, the cycle starts over again. (Bos score)

"I'm sitting here and I have no idea what's going to happen the next game,'' Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Saturday night. "I'd like to think this and think that. But to be brutally honest, I don't know what's going to happen next.''

Barnes was sitting there after a 91-74 win over Mississippi State at Thompson-Boling Arena. A 17-point SEC win is always a keeper and an announced crowd of 13,917 filed out in a good mood.

But when it reported for tipoff, the crowd didn't know what to expect, either. Nobody does.

When last seen, the Vols were blowing a 13-point second-half lead at Ole Miss on Tuesday night. Think total collapse, Titanic hitting iceberg.

But when seen before that, however, Tennessee looked like an Elite Eight candidate, crafting its own brand of Memorial Magic with an 87-75 win at Vanderbilt.

And when seen before that, the Vols were losing three in a row, including home games to Arkansas and South Carolina. Before that, though, a rousing win at Texas A&M.

"When you're a .500 team,'' said Barnes,'' it's one word, inconsistency.

"How do you lose leads? Turnovers, bad shots. When you're  up and down, it's like that.''

At 10-9, UT is pretty much a .500 team. When it comes to the SEC standings, there are a clot of .500 teams or thereabouts. At 3-4 the Vols are part of the clot.

Parity was the order of the day Saturday in the league. In four games, the team lower in the standings beat the team higher in the standings: Vandy beat Florida; Texas A&M beat Georgia; Auburn beat Alabama. And Tennessee beat Mississippi State (12-6, 3-3 SEC).

Think where the Vols would be sitting if they'd held serve at home against Arkansas and protected their lead at Ole Miss. They'd be 5-2 in the SEC standings, that's where.

But they didn't and they didn't, so the roller-coaster ride continues, up and down.

Saturday night was up. Turnovers have been a curse in most losses. The Vols had committed only four deep into the game and finished at seven.

Stagnant offense, resulting in bad shots, has been another sin. The first half was up for grabs, neither team shooting well. The Bulldogs got two quick scores to start the second half, good for a 38-37 lead.

Tennessee, however, answered with authority. The Vols shot 54.8 percent in the second half, avoided dumb turnovers and, what do you know, won going away.

Which they should have done at Ole Miss on Tuesday night.

"If was tough after that game,'' senior Lew Evans said, "sitting in the locker room, thinking that they played harder than us.''

Barnes was thinking the same thing. He brought the heat in Thursday's practice. He brought it again at halftime Saturday night. Get tough or get out.

Jordan Bowden responded. He finished with a season-high seven rebounds to go with his 14 points. Evans, the grad transfer senior, responded. He had a season-high nine rebounds in 25 minutes. It was contagious. Despite their height disadvantage the Vols outrebounded Mississippi State 49-35.

"Credit to Tennessee,'' said Bulldogs coach Ben Howland. "They have played a difficult, hard schedule and they are hardened by it. They are very tough physically.''

Well, sometimes. What the Vols are is very inconsistent. Saturday was a step back in the right direction, but we've seen what comes after that.

This we know: Kentucky's young, NBA-in-waiting Wildcats are coming to Thompson-Boling Arena on Tuesday night. What we don't know is which team will show up to play them. We have no idea.

Mike Strange may be reached at mike.strange@knoxnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at Strangmike44.