In a heavyweight bout that showcased the two winningest SEC programs over the last nine seasons, Auburn’s four-game winning streak came to an end as Tennessee led for all 40 minutes on Saturday night in Thompson-Boling Arena en route to a 77-69 victory.
With the loss, Auburn dropped to 14-8 overall and 5-4 in league play.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Shaky start, but strong close to first half
For the second consecutive game, Auburn dug itself an early hole to climb out of.
Tennessee shot out to an early lead behind a barrage of early threes while Auburn started with just two made field goals at the under-16 break. Auburn fought back with four straight makes, but the Volunteers used a 9-0 burst to extend their lead to double digits, which turned into a 16-point advantage due to their physical presence on the glass.
Auburn still trailed by 10 after the first stanza, but the first of a pair of 4-point plays helped it close out the first half on a strong note while holding Tennessee scoreless from the field for over five minutes.
Auburn stays within fighting distance; it couldn't get over the hump
Auburn came out of the break down 41-31 as the aggressors, using a quick 8-2 run to trim the lead to six while holding Tennessee to 11 of its last 13 since its 16-point advantage.
Tahaad Pettiford converted on his second basket of the half, and a Keyshawn Hall triple paired with a breakaway slam from Elyjah Freeman made it a two-possession game with just over seven minutes left to play.
Pettiford’s third foul call led to a 6-0 burst for Tennessee, but Auburn answered with seven quick points of its own. However, Tennessee used an 11-2 overall run over the next two-and-a-half minutes to extend their lead to double digits – a lead they held on to for the remainder of the half.
Tennessee does what it does best
Auburn knew it was going to have its hands full on the glass with the sixth-best rebounding team in the nation on its home floor.
The Volunteers seemingly hauled in every miss and finished the night with a 46-30 advantage on the boards. Seventeen of them came on the offensive glass – Tennessee came in to this one as the best offensive rebounding team in the nation with a 44.7 offensive rebounding percentage, according to KenPom. Tennessee has now corralled double-digit offensive rebounds in all but one game this season.
Auburn hauled in 12 misses of its own and converted those into 15 second-chance points, which was two more than the Volunteers.
Different story at the charity stripe
It’s typically Auburn that is putting up absurd numbers from the free-throw line, considering it led the nation in free throws attempted (28.8) and free throws made (21.3) per game coming into the game.
But it was Tennessee that got the better of Auburn at the charity stripe on Saturday.
The Volunteers cashed in on 25-of-31 trips compared to Auburn’s 14-of-20. Freshman forward Nate Ament – the Co-SEC player of the Week with Keyshawn Hall – scored 12 of his 22 points from the free-throw line and was just 4-of-16 from the field.
Hall, who led the nation in made free throws before Saturday with 155, only made five trips to the line and cashed in on four of them. Despite that, he turned in another 20-point game with 16 of his 21 points coming in the final stanza.
Auburn will take the week off before returning to action next Saturday against No. 23 Alabama at Neville Arena. Tipoff will take place at 3 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. on ESPN.
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