Auburn Beat at Own Game in Failed Comeback to Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.- The Auburn Tigers on Saturday fell to the Tennessee Volunteers, 77-69, in Steven Pearls’s first time returning to his alma mater since becoming Auburn’s head coach. The Tigers were unable to find a consistent offense throughout the entire night, and their four-game win streak has now come to a screeching halt.

Auburn went with the starting lineup of Tahaad Pettiford, Kevin Overton, Keyshawn Hall, Sebastian Williams-Adams, and KeyShawn Murphy. This is the same lineup Auburn head coach Steven Pearl had during the Tigers’ four-game win streak, which worked well up until now.

Initially, Tennessee came out firing on all cylinders, but what hurt the most initially was the Vols' three-point shooting, the same story from the Tigers’ win against the Texas Longhorns on Wednesday night. Auburn went down by as much as 16 in the first half, but was able to make some runs to keep the game within reach.

“Credit to Tennessee. They beat us at our own game,” Head Coach Steven Pearl said. “They got to the foul line 11 more times than we did, and they did a really good job of attacking the paint. They hit four early threes and they didn’t continue to settle for threes like we did. They out physicaled us and had their way.”

The size of the Vols and the lack thereof from Auburn proved to be far too much for the Tigers on the defensive side of the ball in the first half. Every time the Vols came down the court and noticed KeyShawn Murphy was not on the court, Jalen Carey of Tennessee took advantage of the mismatch down low, whilst also exploiting the zone Auburn was in until Pearl finally adjusted.

Auburn was out-rebounded 13-26 at halftime, with 10 of the Vols’ rebounding being offensive boards. The three-point shot was also not falling for the Tigers in the first half, shooting only 23% from behind the arc. Keyshawn Hall also had a very slow first half, finishing the half 1-for-7 from the field and only five points. Auburn ended the game being outrebounded 46-30 and shooting 7-for-31 from the three-point line.

Despite all of that, Auburn was only down by 10 points at the halftime break, and the Tigers found themselves down at half yet again, having to play catch-up.

Auburn did come out in the second half on fire, with a quick 6-0 run to chip into the lead. But the Vols almost instantly put the foot back on the gas, and the matchup became a back-and-forth affair from there.

Kevin Overton went down after a knee to the back of the head in a loose-ball situation with around 14 minutes remaining in the second half, and he did return to the game with about 5 minutes left in the second half, a good sign for Auburn going forward.

Auburn got the lead down to as low as three, but was unable to ever lead in the matchup. The leading scorer for the Tigers was Keyshawn Hall, with 21 points on the night.

Auburn’s next matchup will be next Saturday in the Iron Bowl of basketball against Alabama. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. CST.

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