KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A second half rally came up short as the Auburn men’s basketball team suffered a 77-69 loss at Tennessee on Saturday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Trailing by 10 at halftime, the Tigers (14-8, 5-4 SEC) trimmed the Vols lead to three with under eight minutes remaining but were never able to take a lead in the contest and saw their four-game winning streak come to an end.
“Credit to Tennessee. They beat us at our own game,” head coach Steven Pearl said. “They got to the foul line 11 more times than we did, and they did a really good job of attacking the paint. They hit four early 3s and they didn’t continue to settle for 3s like we did. They out physicaled us and had their way.”
Keyshawn Hall scored 16 of his team-high 21 points in the second half, but Tennessee (15-6, 5-3 SEC) had four players in double figures, led by freshman Nate Ament’s 22 points.
Tennessee entered the game ranked 4th nationally in rebounding margin and dominated on the glass by out-rebounding the Tigers 46-30.
Tennessee opened the game by making five of its first seven shots, including three from long range, and raced out to a 13-4 lead at the first media timeout of the game. The Tigers settled in and made their next four shots to get within four (18-14) at the under-12 media timeout.
Out of that timeout, Auburn sustained a three-minute scoring drought which allowed Tennessee to go on a 9-0 run and extend its lead to 27-14.
Sebastian Williams-Adams got Auburn within 10, but a layup from DeWayne Brown and back-to-back baskets from Jaylen Carey gave Tennessee its largest lead of the half at 37-21 with 5:22 remaining.
Auburn closed the half on a 10-4 run, and a four-point play from Kevin Overton with three seconds left brought the score to 41-31 in favor of Tennessee at the half. The Vols were led by 11 points each from Ament and Carey. Hall, Tahaad Pettiford and Elyjah Freeman each had five at the break to pace Auburn.
The Tigers chipped away at Tennessee’s lead in the early parts of the second half and Pettiford’s four-point play with 13:35 got Auburn within five at 49-44.
A spectacular alley-oop from Pettiford to Freeman got Auburn within four (53-49), but Tennessee responded with a 6-0 run which extended the Vols lead back to 10 with 9:07 left.
Once again, Auburn responded and a quick 7-0 spurt was capped by an and-1 from Filip Jovic which got the Tigers within three (59-56) with 7:08 remaining.
However, that is as close as Auburn would get as Tennessee used a quick 6-0 run to regain a 65-56 lead and extended the lead to 11 (70-59) with 4:28 left on Carey’s layup.
Auburn had one last gasp as Hall’s third 3-pointer got the Tigers within six, but Tennessee secured back-to-back offensive rebounds which bled the clock and the Vols made their free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.
The Tigers are off for a week before returning to Neville Arena to host rival Alabama next Saturday, Feb. 7. The time is still TBA and will be announced early next week.