Tennessee Basketball: Three takeaways from Vols’ 46-43 win vs Auburn

Yesterday, February 4th, Tennessee basketball hosted the Auburn Tigers in an SEC battle between two top-25 teams. 

Tennessee basketball narrowly defeated the Auburn Tigers by a score of 46-43 in the win yesterday. The Volunteers played one of the worst games of offense all year but were able to continuously weather the storm with their strong defense. There are plenty of ways to dissect this game, but three big takeaways that truly stick out to me.

3-Point Shooting % was Atrocious

The shooting from behind the arc between both the Vols and the Tigers was horrible. The two teams combined for 5 total three-pointers in the game, out of the 48 total 3-pointers taken. Tennessee basketball shot 9%, and the Tigers shot 11%.

Recently, the Vols have been able to get bailed out by the performance of Zakai Zeigler each game but not yesterday. The Volunteer’s offense has been bad lately, but thankfully for Zakai, he was able to keep them afloat by scoring a ton and carrying their offense.

However, in yesterday’s game against Auburn, it simply wasn’t his day, and nobody else stepped up. Zeigler didn’t make a single shot yesterday, shooting 0% and 0-10 from the field. Not great, but basketball isn’t a single-person sport, it’s a team sport, and the Vols’ offense can’t seem to find anyone to help him out. They will get destroyed in the tournament once they face a team that has a good offense if they continue to put up these pitiful numbers from behind the arc.

Tennessee Basketball’s Defense is Elite

There’s no denying that the Volunteer defense is the best in the country, but having an elite defense tends to not matter as much if they can’t score on the offensive side.

Basketball is a game of runs, and one of the best parts about the Volunteers’ defense is their ability to not let teams go on big runs against them. They are fundamentally sound and are the best team in the nation at not allowing teams to go on big runs against them.

The Volunteers found a way to sneak out a win against Auburn, but I’m not too sure how long they can continue winning if the Vols don’t start complementing it with their offense.

Everyone is Losing

Luckily for the Vols, the loss earlier this week to Florida isn’t that big of a deal because 15 of the top 25 teams lost this week.

No. 1: Purdue

No. 2: Tennessee

No. 6: Virginia

No. 7: Kansas State

No. 8: Kansas

No. 11: Baylor

No. 12: Gonzaga

No. 13: Iowa State

No. 15: TCU

No. 17: Providence

No. 19: FAU

No. 20: Clemson

No. 21: Indiana

No. 22: San Diego State

No. 25: Auburn