AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women's basketball team will wrap up the 2020-21 regular season Sunday afternoon in Knoxville, Tenn., as the Tigers take on the 20th-ranked Tennessee Lady Volunteers. Game time at Thompson-Boling Arena is 1 p.m. CT.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen and Larry DiChiara will have the radio call beginning at 12:45 p.m. CT on WQSI 93.9 FM in Auburn. Fans can listen online at AuburnTigers.com or via the official Auburn Athletics mobile app.
›› The game can be seen on SEC Network with Sam Gore and Tamika Catchings calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› It was a Senior Night to remember for Auburn's Unique Thompson, who scored 22 points and had 18 rebounds, but the Tigers let a fourth-quarter lead slip away in a 74-69 loss to No. 16 Arkansas Thursday night at Auburn Arena.
›› The Tigers trailed by as many as 10 in the second quarter, flipped that to a 10-point lead in the third quarter, and were still ahead with less than five minutes to play. But the Razorbacks found their shooting stroke in the final minutes, and Auburn was unable to keep pace down the stretch.
›› Thompson's 22-point, 18-rebound effort was her 15th double-double of the season. It was also the 57th of her career, which moves her into a tie for eighth place all-time in Southeastern Conference history, alongside SEC greats Chamique Holdsclaw (Tennessee), Armintie Price (Ole Miss) and Alaina Coates (South Carolina).
›› She had help on the offensive end as three other Tigers hit for double figures. Honesty Scott-Grayson had 18 points and six rebounds, along with a career-high three blocks. Sania Wells dropped a career-high 12 points, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers, and Aicha Coulibaly scored 10 points and pulled down four rebounds. Alaina Rice also had a seven-point, six-rebound night and led the Tigers with a pair of steals.
›› The Tigers dominated on the boards, out-rebounding Arkansas 47-29. For much of the game, Auburn was also out-shooting the SEC's top-scoring team, but a big fourth quarter for the Razorbacks gave them the edge, 41.4% to 40.0%. Arkansas also knocked down 10 3-pointers, five of them in the fourth quarter.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Be the Tigers' first over Tennessee in Knoxville since 1988.
›› Snap a five-game skid against the Lady Vols.
AUBURN-TENNESSEE SERIES
›› Auburn is 11-46 all-time against Tennessee including a 2-22 mark in Knoxville. The Tigers have lost five straight to the Lady Vols, including a heartbreaking 56-55 loss in Auburn last year.
LAST MEETING: March 1, 2020, in Auburn
Tennessee 56, Auburn 55
›› Auburn put together one of its best defensive efforts of the season, but the Tigers came up one point short against Tennessee in a 56-55 loss at Auburn Arena.
›› A wild sequence unfolded in the final three seconds. With Tennessee leading 54-51 and with just two team fouls, the Lady Vols were trying to foul Auburn to prevent a potential game-tying 3-pointer. But senior Daisa Alexander was fouled in the act of shooting a 3 with 3.4 seconds left. She made all three free throws to tie the game at 54-all, and Tennessee called timeout to advance the ball.
›› Lady Vols' freshman Jordan Horston drove to the lane and put up a floater from the free-throw line that dropped to give UT a 56-54 lead with 0.6 left. After Auburn called its final timeout to advance to the frontcourt, Tennessee fouled Alexander before the ball was inbounded, giving Auburn an opportunity to tie. She made the first, but the second just rolled off the rim, and time expired to give Tennessee a one-point win.
›› Shots did not fall for Auburn as the Tigers shot 28.8 percent (17-of-59) from the field and 4-of-22 (18.2%) from 3-point range. The Tigers stayed in the game with their free-throw shooting, though, hitting 17-of-23. Tennessee was 43.1 percent (22-of-51) from the field and out-rebounded Auburn 50-26.
SCOUTING TENNESSEE
›› Tennessee is 14-6 overall, 8-4 in SEC play. The Lady Vols are currently third in the SEC standings.
›› The Lady Vols average 71.9 points/game and hold opponents to exactly 10 less at 61.9. UT is the SEC's second-best rebounding team with 46.0/game and out-rebounds opponents by an average of 13.2/game.
›› Rae Burrell is UT's leading scorer with 17.3 points/game; Rennia Davis averages 16.5 points and 8.6 rebounds.
›› Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper was an assistant coach at Auburn from 1999-2001. Her husband, UT assistant coach Jon Harper, is a 1999 Auburn graduate and former women's basketball manager and practice player.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Senior forward Unique Thompson leads the SEC and is 3rd in the nation with 13.3 rebounds per game this year, and she leads Auburn with 18.2 points/game. She has 15 double-doubles on the season, which leads the SEC and is fourth nationally. Thompson pulled down her 1,000th career rebound against Belmont on Dec. 20 and is one of two active players nationally with over 1,000 career rebounds.
›› She set the Auburn career record in rebounds with her 1,119th on Feb. 23 at Mississippi State. The previous record of 1,118 by Becky Jackson had stood since 1984.
›› Thompson was unavailable the first three games of SEC play with medical issues, but made her return at Florida Jan. 17 and has recorded double-doubles in eight of 11 games since.
›› Redshirt sophomore Honesty Scott-Grayson, a Baylor transfer who sat out 2019-20, has started all 22 games, averaging 14.9 points/game. She had a career-high 30 points against Missouri, added 25 against Alabama and has topped the 20-point mark five times. In SEC play, Scott-Grayson averages 17.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 1.8 assists per game.
›› Freshman Romi Levy and sophomore Alaina Rice have worked their way into the starting lineup. Levy averages 5.5 points and 4.0 rebounds; she had 12 rebounds at Arkansas. Rice averages 5.4 points and a team-leading 2.3 assists in SEC play, including a career-high 9 assists vs. Alabama.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn will face either Ole Miss or Florida in the first round of the 2021 SEC Tournament. Game time is 3 p.m. CT Wednesday, March 3, in Greenville, S.C.
Tigers wrap up regular season at No. 20 Tennessee
