Auburn Daily

Takeaways from Auburn basketball’s senior day win vs No. 12 Tennessee

The Tigers move to 20-11 on the season in thrilling fashion with a huge win over the Volunteers.
Jeremy Robuck|
Takeaways from Auburn basketball’s senior day win vs No. 12 Tennessee
Takeaways from Auburn basketball’s senior day win vs No. 12 Tennessee

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Auburn TigersTennessee Volunteers

The Auburn Tigers took on the Tennessee Volunteers Saturday afternoon in the Tigers regular season finale. This game meant so much for many reasons. 20 wins is the typical marker of a good season. The game was against a highly ranked team on senior day. This win means Auburn makes the NCAA Tournament. What a win. What a day. Here are a few takeaways from todays game.

Foul Disparity

This has been a theme for the last month, but Auburn cannot get foul calls. It is worse on the road, with foul and free throw disparities hitting shocking numbers, but the Tigers can’t get calls at home either. With seven minutes left in the first half today, Tennessee had one foul. That pace would get them to three for the whole game. There were plenty of physical moments that clearly necessitated a call, nothing. I don’t know how you fix this. It caused Bruce to go viral for comments and throw a headset this week. It is rumored SEC referee crews don’t like Auburn because of complaining. In their defense, there’s a lot to complain about.

Rebounding is an issue

Auburn started the game getting out rebounded 28-16. The Tigers seem to lack size and effort in the rebounding department. They are also frequently out of position. There seems to be a lack of offensive rebounds, and that is uncharacteristic of a Bruce Pearl team. Hopefully they will get coached up before postseason play begins.

Shooting percentage and shot selection

Tennessee shot 63% from 3 in the first half while Auburn only shot 30%. Tennessee was hot. Santiago Vescovi has been there for what feels like 100 years. He led the offense in the first half and hit most of their threes himself. Auburn struggled in the first half to get movement on the offensive end, especially when Wendell Green was out. There was a lot of hero ball and poor shot selection early. Fortunately, the Tigers stepped up their defense and aggression on offense in the 2nd half. Auburn really played well at the end. When Lior Berman dunked on Tennessee it really felt like they couldn’t lose. The SEC tournament comes next week. With this 3rd quad 1 win today, Auburn is firmly in the NCAA Tournament. Today was a great day for Auburn Basketball.

Finally, here are some twitter reactions and highlights from tonight’s game

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Jeremy Robuck
JEREMY ROBUCK

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