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Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols 85-63 loss to Auburn

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 26: Jordan Bowden #23 of the Tennessee Volunteers dunks the ball during the second half of the game between the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Tennessee Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 26, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee won the game 83-66.(Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 26: Jordan Bowden #23 of the Tennessee Volunteers dunks the ball during the second half of the game between the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Tennessee Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 26, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee won the game 83-66.(Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
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In their final regular season game, Tennessee basketball fell to the Auburn Tigers. Here are three things we learned about what happened to the Volunteers.

Bruce Pearl still owns Rick Barnes. The No. 17 ranked Auburn Tigers spoiled Senior Day for Tennessee basketball with an 85-63 win to close out the regular season for both teams. This happened despite the Vols beating the Kentucky Wildcats on the road and Auburn losing at home to the Texas A&M Aggies earlier this week. Auburn completed a regular season sweep of the Vols.

Auburn controlled most of the game, and they jumped out to a 54-37 lead with under 14 minutes to go in the second half, the exact same score UT had when it led at Auburn two weeks ago before allowing an 18-0 run. Rocky Top cut that lead to five, but Auburn pulled back away to dominate in the end. After the Vols made it 72-62, Auburn finished on a 13-1 run for a dominating win.

Up next for Barnes’ team will be the SEC Tournament, which they’ll begin on Thursday. With this loss, they finish the regular season 17-14 and 9-9 in the SEC, while Auburn improve to 25-6 and 12-6 in the SEC. Here are three takeaways from Tennessee basketball’s loss.

1. There was no answer for the guards.

Samir Doughty was the story of the night. He dropped 32 points and hit eight of 13 three-pointers. It didn’t matter who was on him. Everything fell, and there was nothing the Vols could do. By the end, you couldn’t even be mad about it. The guy was just that red-hot.

However, beyond Doughty, other Auburn guards also stepped up. J’Von McCormick hit three of six three-point attempts, scoring 13 points, and Allen Flanigan came off the bench and found a way to get nine points. When reserve Tyrell Jones hit a three late, you knew it was just the Auburn guards’ day.

2. Auburn dominated the glass.

One inexcusable thing that happened to Tennessee basketball was Auburn outrebounding the Vols. Part of this was due to missed shots, to be fair, but the Tigers finished with 42 rebounds to Rocky Top’s 27.

This happened despite Auburn’s big men getting into foul trouble. Austin Wiley and Anfernee McLemore both fouled out, McLemore doing it with eight minutes to go, and Isaac Okoro finished with four fouls. The Vols should have been able to take advantage, and failing to do so is a major indictment against them.

3. Shots were falling for the Vols.

Despite the fact that they shot 33.3 percent from the field, when the Vols got good looks, they hit them. John Fulkerson did have 19 points and hit five of 10 shots. Meanwhile, the team hit eight of 22 three-point attempts, which isn’t bad. Santiago Vescovi alone had 13 points while hitting three of five three-pointers.

Even as they struggled to find good looks, they found ways to score by going to the line. Jordan Bowden had 17 points thanks to the fact that he hit eight of nine free throws. As a team, they hit 19 of 24 free throws, which kept them in it until Auburn pulled away to dominate late. The score wasn’t indicative of how close it was. This is one positive for UT going into the tournament.

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