KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 11 Auburn claimed an eight-point lead midway through the second half but Dalton Knecht took over down the stretch to lead No. 4 Tennessee to a 92-84 victory Wednesday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
"I'm proud of the kids," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "It was a really good contest, Two really good teams who wanted to win it really badly. We did enough things to win the game. We score 84 points on the road against a really good defensive team like Tennessee, you should be able to win."
Johni Broome led Auburn with 23 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
"He did a great job down in there," Pearl said.
Chad Baker-Mazara scored 13 points, Jaylin Wiilliams scored 12, Denver Jones added 11 and K.D. Johnson scored 10.
Knecht scored 27 of his career-high 39 points in the second half, scoring against zone, man-to-man and double-team defenses.
"Knecht did a great job and he's a great player," Pearl said. "He made a lot of tough shots."
Trailing by four at the half, Auburn fell quickly fell behind by nine before Broome scored six points during a 10-2 Auburn run that trimmed Tennessee's lead to two at the first media timeout.
The Tigers grabbed the lead on Lior Berman's fastbreak layup, one of the game's 12 lead changes.
Berman hit a 3-pointer and Wiliams converted an and-one for a 6-0 run that put Auburn ahead 59-54.
Johnson made a pair of free throws to give Auburn an eight-point lead at 63-55 with 12:17 to play before the Vols regained the lead thanks to 11 consecutive points from Knecht, who scored 23 of his team's 29 points in a span of 9 minutes and 5 seconds as Tennessee (22-6, 12-3) led 84-77 with 3:12 remaining.
"I thought when we got that lead in the second half we were in a good spot," Pearl said. "Knecht hit a couple big shots to put it out of reach."
Aden Holloway's 3-pointer pulled Auburn within four with 2:53 to play but the Tigers would get no closer.
Auburn used a pair of 7-0 runs to stay within six points of the Volunteers in the first half, trailing 44-40 at intermission.
Jones led Auburn with nine first-half points. Broome scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds in the first half.
Auburn committed 10 turnovers in the first half, leading to 11 Tennessee points.
"We couldn't stop them and we had some really sloppy, unforced turnovers in the first half," Pearls said. "It's hard to win in that circumstance."
Returning after missing a game with a sore knee, Williams scored in the paint to give the Tigers their first lead at 13-12.
""He was feeling good," Pearl said. "He played well. It's great to have him back."
Late in the half Jones scores seven unanswered points on a layup, a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to give Auburn a 35-34 lead.
Johnson hit a 3-pointer in the final minute to pull the Tigers within one before Zakai Zeigler answered with a 3 in the closing seconds to put Tennessee on top 44-40 at the half.
The Tigers (21-7, 10-5) return to Neville Arena Saturday to play Mississippi State at 3 p.m. CT.
"We came here to try to win a championship. That's what the kids were playing for," Pearl said. "Mississippi State is going to be really tough. They've won five of their last six. Our kids don't get a reprieve. This is going to be a hard one to recover from because we had our chances and we did not seize the opportunity, and that's disappointing."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
TENNESSEE POSTGAME NOTES
» Auburn is now 7-3 in the last 10 games against Tennessee. The Volunteers have won three of the last five in Knoxville in the series. Tennessee leads 81-45 in the all-time series between the two schools including 50-9 in Knoxville and 20-4 at Food City Center.
» Bruce Pearl is 8-7 versus Tennessee with all 14 games coming during Pearl's 10 seasons at Auburn including 2-5 in Knoxville.
» Pearl is 10-7 versus Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes including an 8-6 mark at Auburn against Tennessee under Barnes. Pearl was 2-1 against Texas under Barnes during his six seasons at Tennessee.
» Auburn is now 114-37 as a ranked team under Coach Pearl including 27-24 on the road. Under Pearl, the Tigers are 21-31 vs. ranked opponents including 2-14 on the road. Auburn is 14-11 in ranked matchups under Pearl including 1-5 on the road.
» The Tigers recorded 20 assists on 27 made field goals. It was the 10th time this season, including the fifth in SEC play, that the Tigers have recorded at least 20 assists in a game this season.
» Auburn placed five players in double figures for the fifth time this season led by Johni Broome's 23 points on 9-of-16 field goals and 2-of-5 3-pointers. He added nine rebounds, five assists, one block and one steal against the Vols. Broome went over 1,900 career points in the game, ending the night with 1,908 points to date. He has blocked a shot in 22 of the last 23 games including the last 12 contests. Broome is now eighth all-time on the school's all-time career blocks list (143). He turned in his seventh 20-point game of the season including three in the last six games. During that span, Broome is averaging 18.7 points on 51.9 percent shooting from the floor, 8.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.
» Chad Baker-Mazara scored 13 points including 2-of-4 3-point field goals and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line at Tennessee. He added three assists, three steals and one rebound on the night. Baker-Mazara has scored in double figures 16 times this season including 10 times in 15 SEC games and seven of the last eight contests. During that span, he is averaging 13.4 points on 50.9 percent shooting overall, 54.5 percent from 3-point range and 90.2 percent from the foul line.
» Playing in his 134th career game to tie Frankie Sullivan's school record for most career games played, Jaylin Williams scored 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the floor, 1-of-4 from long range and 3-of-3 from the foul line. He added four assists, three rebounds and one steal. It was his 17th game in double figures this season and the 59th of his career.
» Denver Jones finished with 11 points on 3-of-4 field goals, 1-of-2 3-pointers and 4-of-4 free throws to go with three rebounds and one steal against the Volunteers. It was his fifth game in double figures in the last eight games during which he is shooting 44.8 from deep.
» K.D. Johnson chipped in10 points, including 5-of-5 from the free-throw line, to go with one assist and one steal versus Tennessee. It was his eighth game in double figures this season and the 59th of his career.
» Auburn scored 40 first-half points against the Vols' defense. It was just the fifth time this season UT allowed 40 points in the first half to an opponent.