A funny thing happened in Tennessee's basketball funeral procession Wednesday night. A party broke out and the alleged corpse was leading the dancing.

Given up for dead after a 25-point loss to Vanderbilt four days earlier, the Vols upset No. 11 Mississippi State 64-63 at Thompson-Boling Arena, snapping the nation's longest road winning streak at 16 games.

"This game is big for us, just for our minds,'' said UT coach Buzz Peterson. "I don't care if it was by one point or what, we needed a win badly.''

They may have needed it for their minds, but the Vols could also attribute this unexpected win to their hearts - an area called into question after the Vanderbilt debacle.

"We responded to the loss,'' said UT senior Brandon Crump. "Hopefully, we got some people to jump back on the bandwagon.''

The Bulldogs (14-3, 2-1 SEC) roared back from an 18-point second-half deficit and had a chance to keep their amazing road streak - it started after a loss here in 2003 - alive.

However, Lawrence Roberts' 15-foot fall-away shot at the buzzer bounced off the rim and the Vols (9-6, 2-1) had their biggest win since they upset no. 7 Kentucky nearly three years ago.

This one was even more needed.

In the days since the 88-63 spanking by Vanderbilt, public dismay with the team and with its fourth-year head coach reached a crescendo.

"You've got to deal with adversity,'' said Peterson. "That's just part of it. Thick skin or whatever, I've got it.

"The easy way out is to turn your head from anything. I won't turn my head from nothing. I believe in this team, I like what we can do.

"I think we're for sure headed in the right direction.''

Peterson, who continues to recruit full speed ahead, took away the team's practice gear Monday and Tuesday to make a point about playing with pride and passion.

The Vols responded with their best 20 minutes of the season, opening a 42-26 halftime lead.

Crump scored eight of his 12 points in the first four minutes. Scooter McFadgon hit his first six shots to account for all of his 14 points.

"The way we played in the first half is the way we should be playing all year,'' said UT point guard C.J. Watson, who scored nine points, had nine assists and only three turnovers.

"It didn't surprise me,'' said Mississippi State's Shane Power, who scored 17 points. "They've got as much talent as any team in this league.''

The Bulldogs, in their first game without injured Winsome Frazier, their second-leading scorer, committed 10 turnovers in the first half and shot only 33.3 percent.

"In the first half, we acted like we had never played before,'' said Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury.

"You have to learn from it. You cannot wait until the last 15 minutes.''

With 17 minutes left, UT's lead was a game-high 18 points, 47-29.

But scoreless possession followed scoreless possession. McFadgon cooled off, missing his final seven shots. Crump and Major Wingate were both on the bench with four fouls as Roberts began to add up his game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds.

State slowly but surely ground down the lead, outscoring UT 20-5 to close to 52-49 with 6:56 to play.

Finally, Chris Lofton hit a 3-pointer to break a scoreless Tennessee string of 6:09.

Andre Patterson accounted for three of UT's final four field goals, including a tip-in with 1:12 to play that made it 64-60.

Shane Power swished a 3-pointer and with 50.3 seconds left, it was a one-point game.

The Vols worked the clock but Crump missed in the lane with 15 seconds to play and State controlled the rebound.

Ontario Harper's off-balance 3-pointer missed but the Bulldogs retained possession with 2.2 ticks left.

After an in-bounds pass, Roberts turned and shot over Crump. And missed. For one night at least, basketball was fun again for Tennessee.

Now the question becomes whether it can stay that way, especially with three difficult road games up next.

"Me and Scooter were talking,'' said Crump. "We know we don't have that many opportunities and chances for this team. We know coach might not have another opportunity.

"We're going to do the best we can to have the most-successful season.''

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276.