All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols 73-66 loss at Auburn

By Caleb Calhoun

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MARCH 28: Head coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after losing to the Purdue Boilermakers in overtime of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at the KFC YUM! Center on March 28, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MARCH 28: Head coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after losing to the Purdue Boilermakers in overtime of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at the KFC YUM! Center on March 28, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

In another tough game, Tennessee basketball fell to the Auburn Tigers on the road. Here are three things we learned from the Volunteers’ loss.

It was a hard-fought matchup, but Tennessee basketball came out on the short end of the stick once again with Bruce Pearl and the No. 13 ranked Auburn Tigers. The Vols lost in a tough battle on the road 73-66.

Despite leading by 17 twice in the second half, Auburn used an 18-0 run to take control of the game. With the loss, Rick Barnes’ team falls to 15-12 on the year and 7-7 in the SEC. Meanwhile, Auburn improves to 23-4 and 10-4 in the SEC. It’s also UT’s fourth straight loss to Auburn, although the previous three were much more costly.

Up next for Rocky Top is a trip to Fayetteville to face the Arkansas Razorbacks on Wednesday. That’s part of their brutal stretch to close out the season. Here are three takeaways from Tennessee basketball’s loss.

1. Another late-game collapse took place.

This is the third straight game such an issue took place. The Vols have been falling apart in the final minutes of games, and it happened again in this one. After being up by three with five minutes to go, Auburn went on a 7-0 run to go up 64-60 with three minutes left.

Then, down by one with a minute left, he Tigers got three straight stops defensively, including one that was due to a turnover by Josiah-Jordan James. This is why they won 73-66. Last-minute collapses have been a major problem with this team, and it hit again on Saturday.

2. Turnovers were a massive issue.

Nobody knows better than Tennessee basketball fans about how aggressive Bruce Pearl can be. Well, it proved itself in this matchup, as the Auburn Tigers torched the Vols due to their youth when it comes to guard play.

UT had 24 turnovers. Santiago Vescovi had five, and Josiah-Jordan James had six. Add in another four from John Fulkerson down low, and this one was an issue all the way around. When it comes to mistakes like this, Yves Pons also didn’t help with five fouls. But all of this was a reason Auburn had an 18-0 run to take control of the game.

3. At least Jordan Bowden got his groove back. 

This is one positive from the matchup. Jordan Bowden had been struggling from the outside for a while, but in this game, he found out how to be effective in every way possible. And it showed with his production.

Bowden had a career-high 28 points. He hit three-of-four three-pointers and nine-of-12 field goals overall. Add in the fact that he hit all seven free throws along with dishing out six assists, and it’s clear he had a great night. If Bowden keeps this up, the Vols may have a great chance to get things going down the stretch. They just have to fix the other issues.

Home/Vols Basketball