Well, it only took about 24 years, but the Auburn Tigers finally got a win over a top-five team in the Tennessee Volunteers. Clutch three-point shooting from the Tigers and defensive lapses from the Vols culminated in a disappointing loss that kept the Vols from back-to-back SEC regular season titles for the first time in program history. Despite the disappointing finish, it still doesn’t take away from a stellar regular season that saw the Vols set new records and hold the top spot in the country for a month. The game got off to the expected start for both teams, as Grant Williams made the first bucket for the Vols, but Auburn answered right back with a three pointer to make it a 3-2 lead. Tennessee continued to run their brand of offense while Auburn continued to take threes and the process eventually led to a 14-8 Volunteer lead with a little over 15:00 to go in the first half. The Vols were 5 of 7 from the floor, while Auburn was 3 of 8 at this point. But poor decisions - namely consecutive three point attempts that shouldn’t have been taken - allowed Auburn back in the game and a three-pointer from Bryce Brown tied the game up at 14. Fortunately, Admiral Schofield immediately responded with a jumper to put the Vols back in the lead, 16-14, with 13:13 remaining. The Tigers had attempted eight three-pointers within the first seven minutes of the game. They’d yet to establish an inside presence, so it was clear they were going to live and die at the arc this game. This was evidenced even more to the tune of 11 three-point attempts in 16 total shots at one point in the first half. The Vols ran into a bit of trouble early on as Schofield hit the bench after getting called for his second foul of the game. Tennessee was up 23-16, but how would they fare without their senior leader? It’s pretty easy to see that they did just fine without him. They were able to build a 35-24 lead off of 5 of 9 shooting - including 2 of 3 from three - and an 8-0 run before a turnover that led to a Chuma Okeke slam ended the run. Good spacing, aggressive defense, and good shot selection had the Vols rolling with just a tad under 4:00 left in the first half. A 7-2 run from the Tigers cut the Vols’ lead to 37-31, but Tennessee was able to maintain the six-point lead into halftime, 41-35. Tennessee shot 55 percent in the first half, compared to 41 percent for the Tigers. As expected, Auburn shot a ton of three-pointers - 18 on 32 total shots to be exact - but the Vols also had 14 long distance attempts on 31 total shots. The Vols outrebounded the Tigers 20-12 and outscored them 14-10 in the paint. If there was one area to improve for Tennessee, it’d be to limit the turnovers and stop the lapses in defense. Overall, the defense had played well, but there were a few lapses that were very concerning. Auburn’s defense decided to show up early on in the second half, but the Vols’ defense didn’t show up at all. The Tigers went on a 7-0 run in the first two minutes of play to regain the lead, 42-41. It was the first time they led since leading 3-2 after their first shot of the game. But two free throws from Williams and an offensive charge on the Tigers allowed Bowden to sink his third trey of the game from the corner and the Vols were back up, 46-42 with 15:46 to play. Tennessee was able to stretch the lead to 50-43, but Okeke drilled a three then picked Schofield’s pocket en route to five straight points to cut the Vols’ lead to 50-48. A bad foul on Lamonte Turner later on gave Auburn the opportunity to tie the game, but Brown could only hit 2 of his 3 free throws. The Vols led 56-55, but the lead soon evaporated after a Williams foul allowed enter here to put the Tigers in the lead, 57-56. But Jordan Bone immediately responded with a drive to the basket and converted the and-1 opportunity to put the Vols back up, 59-57. Auburn then pounced on the Vols thanks to Okeke. he scored four of the team’s six points as the went on a 6-0 run to take a 63-59 lead with 8:30 left in the game. The Vols hadn’t made a shot in almost 2:30 until a three from Bone ended the drought and brought the team within two points of the Tigers’ lead, 64-62. Another Brown three pushed Auburn’s lead to 69-64 with 6:20 left and things began to look pretty dire for the Vols, but Williams came through with a bucket of his own. He was also fouled, but couldn’t convert the three point play. The Vols trailed, 69-66 with 5:30 left to play. Williams was able to make another shot thanks to his signature spin move and was fouled again in the process. This time, he converted the three point play and tied the game up at 69 (nice). But consecutive three-pointers from Harper put the Tigers right back in the lead, 75-69 with about 2:45 to go. Tennessee would have to find a way to get stops on defense if they were going to win this game. Bowden finally came through and picked Okeke’s pocket as the Tigers led 75-72, but Schofield took an ill-advised three and couldn’t tie the game. All but the final nail was put in Tennessee’s coffin as Harper’s shot was blocked by Williams, just to have Doughty drain a three off the block to put Auburn up 78-72 with under a minute to play. Schofield tried to come up with a crucial charge, but was called for a block on Harper as he drove to the bucket with a tick over thirty seconds left. Auburn led 78-74, so two made free throws would all but seal the deal for the Tigers. Sure enough, he nailed both and Auburn led 80-74 with very little time to play. The game looked to be over, but a hook-and-hold call on Anfernee McLemore gave the Vols life with :23 seconds left in the game. Williams hit both of his free throws and made an ensuing layup to cut the lead to 80-78 with :20 seconds left. Schofield committed the obligatory foul to keep the game going, but it came at a cost as it was fifth foul. Harper hit both free throws and Auburn was back up by four points with :20 to go. But a sloppy offensive possession led to a Volunteer turnover and the last bit of Rick Barnes’ squad’s hopes were dashed as the Tigers would go on to win, 82-78. Tennessee can still take home a share of the SEC title, but they’ll need a victory from winless-in-the-SEC Vanderbilt against LSU tonight to do so. The Vols will now await their fate as they will hold the number two seed in the SEC Tournament. That game will be played on Friday, March 15th. Tip-off has yet to be determined.<doc-sep>The No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers will look to capture a second consecutive SEC regular season title on Saturday with a win over the Auburn Tigers. Tennessee has a chance to win the league outright, but LSU has to lose to Vanderbilt in Baton Rouge on Saturday night for that to happen. Odds are the Vols are playing for a co-championship, just as they did last year with Auburn. Bruce Pearl’s Tigers beat Tennessee convincingly last year in Knoxville. Since that outstanding season, they’ve taken a slight step back. Auburn is 21-9 overall, fighting for the fourth seed in next week’s SEC Tournament. They’ve won three games in a row and five of their last six to rebound late in conference play. It’s going to be interesting to see how Tennessee handles their two outstanding guards — Bryce Brown and Jared Harper. Back to back outstanding defensive performances have to give you some confidence the the Vols, however. Check out our full preview here. Gameday Information Location: Auburn, Alabama Tip-off time: Noon ET TV Channel: ESPN Radio: Vol Network Streaming: WatchESPN Odds: Tennessee -1.5 (Opened as a pick ‘em)<doc-sep>DALLAS, TX - MARCH 17: Jordan Bowden #23 of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after losing to the Loyola Ramblers 63-62 in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at the American Airlines Center on March 17, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) Tennessee Volunteers 80 Auburn Tigers 84 The Tennessee basketball team finished the 2018-19 regular season with a loss to the Auburn Tigers. Here are three takeaways from the game. If you blinked you missed approximately five-to-eight made buckets, that’s how the pace of the game was flowing. Both teams were knocking down shots and playing with a ton of energy — the first ten minutes of the game displayed hot shooting from both teams and 40 points combined. The first two minutes of the game started with a Grant Williams score in the paint, followed by a Chua Okeke made three-point jumper from the corner. Lamonte Turner came right back down and made a three-point jumper of his own, then a dunk from Jordan Bone pull the Vols up 7-3. Jordan Bowden came off the bench and gave Tennessee a spark with five points less than a minute apart. At the under eight timeout, Bowden had 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting. When he can provide that much production off the bench, the Vols are impossible to beat. However, the Tigers were hanging tough connecting on 6-of-18 shots from the three-point line. Okeke finished the half leading the way with 13 points on 50 percent from deep. Not another second half where the Vols don’t show up. Auburn opened the half on a 7-0 run. But, the Vols answered and was looking like they were in control, then Chuma Okeke made a three-point jumper. Then Okeke stole Admiral’s lunch and took it all the way for a jam to get the crowd rocking. Most of the second half was both teams throwing absolute haymakers on each other and fighting for every single point. Here are three takeaways from the last regular season game of the 2018-19 season. 1. Lamonte Turner shot Vols out of the win, again Lamonte Turner is a good player. He brings a lot to the table and has helped Tennessee win many games throughout his career. However, he’s also cost the Vols many of games as well. In fact, in each loss this season, Turner had horrible performances from the three-point line which cost the Vols dearly. Turner finished the game 1-for-8 from the three-point line in the fourth loss of the season. 1-for-8 vs. Auburn – L 1-for-7 vs. LSU – L 0-for-7 vs. Kentucky – L 2-for-9 vs. Kansas – L 2-for-7 vs. Loyola (NCAA Tournament) – L 2-for-7 vs. Kentucky (SEC Tournament)- L In the last six losses, Turner shot 8-for-45, 17 percent from the three-point line. I’m not blaming the entire loss on Turner, but he sure didn’t help. 2. Hello Jordan Bowden Welcome back to college hoops Jordan Bowden. Only once in the past six games did Bowden score in double figures which came against Mississippi State last Tuesday night. Bowden started off SEC play as the easy pick to win SEC Sixth Man of the Year. He scored 20 against Georgia and Missouri in back-to-back games. Since the loss in Rupp Arena, it appeared Bowden lost his confidence. However, he got it back against the Tigers scoring 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting, including 3-for-7 from the three-point line. This was the17th game Bowden found himself in double figures. Before the loss, the Vols were 16-0 on the season when Bowden scored over ten points. 3. Back-to-back SEC regular season champs…NOT With the win, Tennessee wins back-to-back SEC regular season titles for the first time in program history. Well, that’s what I was going to say, but the Vols didn’t win. This might be the worst loss of the season because the SEC Championship was on the line and the Vols didn’t show up. With the loss, Rick Barnes moves to 2-4 in big games on the season, and it isn’t a good look heading into postseason play. Who knows what is going to happen with LSU with their wins and how the season shapes out. However, at the current moment, the Vols will be the three seed in the SEC Tournament. The next game, again at the current moment, will be on the last game on Friday night.<doc-sep>
AUBURN, Ala. — Grant Williams made a massive defensive play for Tennessee at Auburn on Saturday. Or so it appeared. The Vols junior flew across the paint to swat a shot from Auburn’s Jared Harper in a three-point game with 1:13 to play. He emphatically blocked it, but he knew it was a mistake quickly. “Normally, I try to block shots to teammates or just tip it so they come right back down,” Williams said. “I swatted it too hard and I was like, ‘It’s going right back out.’” Williams’ block sailed into the hands of Auburn guard Samir Doughty, who gathered it and shot a 3-pointer. He buried it and effectively ended Tennessee’s chances to claim an SEC title on its own accord Saturday. The No. 4 Vols dropped the game they had to win to guarantee at least a share of the regular-season league title for the second straight season, falling 84-80 at Auburn. LSU defeated Vanderbilt on Saturday night for the outright title. UT tied for second with Kentucky. “A year ago, we win the league with five losses,” Vols coach Rick Barnes said. “This year we only have three. But you have to learn from this. Some of the mistakes we made today we can’t make. Not at this time of year.” Williams led Tennessee (27-4, 15-3 SEC) with 25 points. He scored four points and pulled UT within two with 23.1 seconds to play on a pair of free throws and a jumper. Jordan Bone had 17 and Jordan Bowden scored 16, including 12 in the first half after a blistering start. Admiral Schofield scored 13, but played only 25 minutes because of foul trouble at Auburn (22-9, 11-7). Harper provided two daggers in the form of 3-pointers to shatter a tie with than four minutes to play. He made his first from the edge of the centercourt logo. He made another one — although it appeared Auburn’s Anfernee McLemore tipped-in the shot — to put Tennessee down six with 2:46 to play. “I thought it got tipped,” Barnes said. “It should have been a two-point play. That is what everybody had told me as I walked over here. That’s neither here nor there.” But Tennessee’s afternoon was done in by good shooting from Auburn, too many turnovers (13) and its most 3-point attempts in SEC play (28). “I couldn’t tell you what happened or why,” Williams said of the turnovers. Auburn only turned over the ball five times, while the Tigers turned Tennessee’s miscues into 19 points. “Normally, we don’t do that,” Barnes said. “You have to give them some credit for that. Shot-clock violations, we have no one to blame but ourselves. That’s on our guards, we should be locked in.” UT had four turnovers and a shot-clock violation in the final five minutes of the first half, when its 11-point lead shriveled to four. “That’s something we emphasized that we can’t turn the ball over against this team,” Williams said. “They feed off turnovers. It’s something they score on almost every time they turn the ball over.” Tennessee held a six-point edge at halftime, but Auburn wrecked it quickly. The Tigers scored seven straight to open the half, setting the tone for a half that Tennessee never really controlled. UT regained the lead for a stretch, but Auburn held close until forward Chuma Okeke tied the game. Auburn scored again and UT committed another shot-clock violation —Bone dribbling casually on the perimeter as 30-second window expired. Williams tied the game 69-69 with a powerful move from the top of the key, converting a three-point play with 4:49 to play. Harper, who had 16 points, hit two straight 3-pointers to put Auburn ahead by six. Schofield made it a three-point game with a 3-pointer before Harper tried to make it five with a short jumper, but Williams blocked it into a Doughty 3-pointer instead. The Vols junior — and likely repeat SEC player of the year — scored four points on a possession after the Tigers were whistled for a hook-and-hold with 23.1 seconds to play. Williams made two free throws and scored in the paint to cut Auburn’s lead to two. But that was the final noise for the Vols in a game they had to win to repeat as SEC regular-season champions for the first time. “I think it can really help us to see what we did wrong today,” Williams said. “We definitely need a little bit more from everyone.