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Tennessee basketball: Kentucky win no excuse for Vols laziness vs Auburn

By Caleb Calhoun

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - MARCH 17: Grant Williams #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers shoots the ball against the Auburn Tigers during the final of the SEC Basketball Championships at Bridgestone Arena on March 17, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - MARCH 17: Grant Williams #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers shoots the ball against the Auburn Tigers during the final of the SEC Basketball Championships at Bridgestone Arena on March 17, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee basketball’s SEC Tournament championship loss to the Auburn Tigers came on the heels of the Volunteers’ huge win over the Kentucky Wildcats.

It was the Tennessee basketball version of what happened to the Vols back in 2001 in football: a week after beating the Florida Gators, they suffered an upset loss to the LSU Tigers in the SEC Championship. This time, the Vols lost 84-64 to the Auburn Tigers in the SEC Tournament championship a day after beating the Kentucky Wildcats.

The 2001 loss cost Phillip Fulmer’s team a national championship. This time, it simply cost the Vols their first SEC Tournament title since 1979 and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Analysts will use the same excuse for Rick Barnes’s team that they used for the Vols back in 2001: they just had too much of a hangover after such a huge win the day before.

Make no mistake. In this case there was a hangover. Anybody who saw the first half could tell considering that Tennessee basketball spotted Auburn 13 points off of 12 turnovers. Add in the fact that Auburn had 13 offensive rebounds to Tennessee’s 4, and it becomes incredibly obvious who wanted this one more.

But that’s no excuse. It is never an excuse. This is a veteran Vols team, one that returned every starter from a year ago and is led by two seniors and four juniors in its rotation. They made it to Sunday in the SEC Tournament title last year, and senior Admiral Schofield wanted revenge for that game and the regular season loss to Auburn that cost them a share of the regular season title.

So they had all the motivation in the world to win this game, and there is no way to excuse a 20-point loss. You don’t think Auburn was tired after their fourth game in four days and a thrilling win over the Florida Gators on Saturday? What about the Duke Blue Devils?

They are a team that Tennessee basketball fought with over who should be No. 1 for much of the year. On Friday, they had a dramatic win over the North Carolina Tar Heels behind Zion Williamson. But did they let that hangover phase them on Saturday? No. They beat the Florida State Seminoles to win the ACC Tournament championship.

That didn’t happened for Rick Barnes’s team. And it’s a major concern. If they can’t handle match-ups following big wins, how are they going to make any run in the NCAA Tournament? After all, they’ll likely have a tough Sweet Sixteen match-up. What happens if it’s a close game? Will they not be able to handle an Elite Eight game two days later?

This is basically what happened Sunday. Bruce Pearl’s Tigers were able to assure that this Tennessee team, which had reached No. 1 for the longest stretch in school history, would still come away empty-handed in terms of any form of a title.

That allows the first UT team that ever reached No. 1 in 2007-2008 under Pearl to still have something these Vols don’t. At least they were able to win the SEC regular season title outright before losing in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. And it was all on their complacency.

To a degree, you have to blame Barnes. It was very clear from the start that Pearl was pushing his team much harder than Barnes was, and that showed in the first half. That’s why they built a 13-point lead and were up by 9 at halftime.

Sure, the Tigers broke it open with red-hot shooting early in the second half. But the only reason they broke it open was because the Vols were too lazy to cash in during the first half. That’s when they could have made their run. Instead, with 75 percent of Bridgestone Arena made up of their own fans in what was basically a home game, they had no interest.

Turnovers went out faster than gifts from Oprah. It wasn’t even poor shot selection, and they didn’t have any trouble handling the press. It was simply unforced errors once they crossed the half-court line, making it very clear that they had no interest in playing this game.

Luckily, the Vols still have the NCAA Tournament. But there will be no banner this year. They had two chances to win at least one when facing Pearl, and both times they came up short. Pearl has now cost them an outright regular season title last year by winning in Knoxville, a share of the title this year by winning in Auburn, and the tournament title by winning in Nashville.

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