AUBURN, Ala. – The final road swing of the 2022-23 regular season begins Sunday when Auburn travels to Knoxville to take on the Tennessee Lady Volunteers. Game time is 11 a.m. CT at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Auburn looks to build on a milestone home win over Texas A&M from Thursday, which was the first over the Aggies in program history.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on WQSI 93.9 FM beginning at 10:45 a.m. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› The game is set for a national broadcast on ESPN2 with Tom Hart and Debbie Antonelli on the call.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Aicha Coulibaly scored 18 points, and Auburn overcame an eight-point deficit in the second half to defeat Texas A&M 65-55 Thursday at Neville Arena, the Tigers' first victory vs. the Aggies in program history in the teams' 17th meeting.
›› On a night when Auburn missed a dozen free throws, Sania Wells secured Auburn's historic win by going 10-for-10 from the line in the fourth quarter.
›› With Auburn leading by two, Wells beat the shot clock with a baseline floater with 2:03 remaining to put the Tigers ahead 57-53. Wells scored all of Auburn's points during a game-ending 10-2 run that turned a two-point lead into a 10-point victory.
›› Coulibaly was 8-for-11 from the floor and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, including six points and five rebounds in the decisive fourth quarter. Her jump shot in the paint with 6:09 to play broke a 47-47 tie, giving Auburn a lead it would not relinquish. Wells scored 13 points, and Honesty Scott-Grayson and Kharyssa Richardson each added 12.
›› Auburn made 12 steals while forcing 29 Aggie turnovers, the most by an SEC opponent this season. The Tigers committed 22 turnovers but still managed to outscore Texas A&M 24-20 in points off turnovers.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Secure Auburn's first winning record in the regular-season since the 2018-19 season.
›› Be Auburn's fifth SEC win of the year.
›› Give Auburn back-to-back wins over Tennessee for the first time since 2009.
›› Be Auburn's third all-time win over Tennessee in Knoxville.
›› Be the Tigers' first victory at Thompson-Boling Arena since the 1990 Final Four vs. Louisiana Tech.
AUBURN-TENNESSEE SERIES
›› This is the 60th meeting between Auburn and Tennessee. The Lady Vols lead 47-12, including a 23-2 advantage in Knoxville. Auburn's two wins in Knoxville came in 1986 and 1988.
LAST MEETING: Jan. 27, 2022, at Auburn
Auburn 71, #4 Tennessee 61
›› The Auburn Tigers shocked the women's college basketball world, pulling one of the season's biggest upsets with a 71-61 win over No. 4 Tennessee, earning their first league win of the season and knocking the Lady Vols from the ranks of the unbeaten in league play.
›› Auburn forced Tennessee into 22 turnovers, converting those into 25 points, and never faltered in the face of several Lady Vol runs in a game that featured nine lead changes, six of those in the second half.
›› Aicha Coulibaly led four Tigers in double-figures with 26 points, and she also pulled down seven rebounds to lead the Tigers. Sania Wells scored 13 points, Jala Jordan added 11 points and six rebounds in her second SEC start, and Annie Hughes scored 10. Freshman Mar'Shaun Bostic was a beast on the defensive end, swiping four steals and finishing with nine points and three assists off the bench. In the 15 minutes she was on the court, the Tigers were plus-25.
›› Auburn shot 39 percent (25-64) from the field but matched a season-high with seven made 3-pointers, two apiece from Jordan, Hughes and Coulibaly. Tennessee, the nation's top rebounding team, out-rebounded Auburn 43-30, but points in the paint were even at 30-30 and Auburn had 11 second-chance points to Tennessee's nine.
SCOUTING THE LADY VOLS
›› Tennessee is 19-9 overall, 11-2 in SEC play. The Lady Vols played a brutal non-conference schedule and have the No. 2 strength of schedule nationally.
›› The Lady Vols average 77.4 points per game and allow 65.9. Tennessee is one of the nation's top rebounding teams, ranking ninth in the country with 43.9 per game. They are fourth in rebounding margin at +11.2.
›› Rickea Jackson averages 18.5 points per game to rank third in the SEC and 31st nationally.
AUBURN-LADY VOL TIES
›› Head coach Kellie Harper was an Auburn assistant from 1999-2001, spending two years on coach Joe Ciampi's staff following her playing days at UT. Her husband and assistant coach, Jon Harper, is an Auburn graduate and spent three seasons as part of Ciampi's team as a manager and practice player.
›› Lady Vol assistant coach Samantha Williams was a four-year starter for the Tigers from 1992-96, finishing her career with 1,108 points.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 14-11 overall, 4-9 in SEC play. The Tigers snapped a three-game skid with a 65-55 win over Texas A&M Thursday night.
›› Auburn is the only team in the country to have played the top three teams in last week's national rankings: No. 1 South Carolina (twice), No. 2/3 Indiana and No. 3/2 LSU.
›› Junior Aicha Coulibaly leads Auburn in scoring (16.4 ppg), rebounding (6.6 rpg) and steals (2.3 spg); she is 7th in the SEC in scoring and 3rd in steals. She has four double-doubles this season, her last coming last Sunday at Alabama (13 points, 10 rebounds). In Auburn's four SEC wins, Coulibaly is averaging 20.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.8 steals, along with shooting 51.6% from the floor. Coulibaly has missed three SEC games with injuries.
›› Honesty Scott-Grayson averages 12.5 points to rank second on the team. She led Auburn in scoring in seven of the last eight games in non-conference play, topping the 20-point mark four times including a career-high 31 against North Carolina A&T. She is also the Tigers' top 3-point shooter, hitting 40.0% from long range (32-80). She missed the first three games of SEC play with minor injuries but returned to the bench vs. Alabama and to the starting lineup at LSU.
›› Redshirt sophomore Romi Levy recorded double-doubles against both Alabama State and Little Rock. Against Little Rock, she had career-highs in points (18) and rebounds (13) for her second career double-double.
›› Sophomore Mar'Shaun Bostic has been a defensive spark off the bench, averaging 1.3 steals in SEC play. She scored a career-high 11 points in the win over Ole Miss.
›› Senior Sania Wells has had four big games in SEC play, scoring a season-high 16 points in the win at Kentucky along with 13 against South Carolina, Alabama and Texas A&M. She was the SEC's leading free-throw shooter last year at 90.5% (76-84) and is currently 2nd all-time at Auburn in career free-throw percentage (80.1%). She averages 7.4 points off the bench and is Auburn's fourth-leading scorer in SEC play.
›› Freshman point guard Sydney Shaw leads the Tigers with 2.4 assists/game despite moving to the 2-guard spot once league play began. She scored a career-high 15 points and matched a season-best with 6 assists in the win over Louisiana-Lafayette, and she scored at least 14 points in 3 of the last 4 non-conference games. She matched that career-high with 15 points against South Carolina on Feb. 9. Shaw is Auburn's third-leading scorer with 7.5 points/game.
›› Auburn's newcomers have all made an immediate impact with three freshmen - Kaitlyn Duhon, Shaw and Kharyssa Richardson - starting each of the first six games. Duhon scored 17 points in the win over South Alabama. Richardson had a career night with 15 points and 16 rebounds in a win over Florida. Junior Jakayla Johnson has earned 14 starts, scoring 8+ points in four of those and posting a career-high 6 assists at Kentucky.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn plays its final road game of the season Thursday, Feb. 23, when the Tigers travel to Athens, Ga., to take on the Georgia Bulldogs. Game time is 6 p.m. CT at Stegeman Coliseum.
