NASHVILLE — What had the potential to be one of the most celebratory weekends in Tennessee basketball history turned into a disappointing blown opportunity Sunday, as the Vols fell to Auburn 84-67 in the SEC Tournament Championship Game.

Here are four quick takes on a missed chance.

1 — What was that? — The first half of today’s game unquestionably represented the worst 20 minutes of basketball that Tennessee has played this season. Only the second half at Kentucky even comes close.

The Vols had more turnovers (12) in the first half than field goals (8). During one particularly brutal stretch, they turned the ball over on four straight possessions. They had a scoring drought that lasted for 8:09 during which they went 1-for-11 from the floor.

Meanwhile, Auburn had just two turnovers themselves and turned Tennessee’s miscues into 13 points.

SEC Player of the Year Grant Williams got just three field goal attempts and had only two points at the half.

For all of the Vols’ talk about not forgetting who they are and focusing on just playing their style of basketball against Auburn, they were completely out of sync.

Auburn didn’t even have it going on offense early, making just 5-of-20 from three point range and star Jared Harper played only two minutes after picking up two quick fouls. The Vols were fortunate to be down only nine at the half.

It was startling to see that level of ineptitude from the same team that less than 24 hours earlier had cobbled together one of the more amazing comebacks in recent memory to topple Kentucky and advance to the finals.

Maybe the Vols couldn’t come down off the emotional high from Saturday afternoon? Whatever it was, they came out flat and were really never in the game after the first 10 or 12 minutes.

2 — What a blown opportunity — It’s hard to overstate what a choke job today was, what a missed chance for a program that hasn’t won an SEC Tournament title in four decades.

It couldn’t have been set up any better for the Vols. Bridgestone Arena was swathed in Tennessee Orange. Fans showed up in droves and gobbled up all the tickets that became available when the Vols sent Kentucky packing on Saturday.

The crowd was probably 80-20 in Tennessee’s favor, and that’s conservative. They were raucous and rocking early, then Tennessee stopped giving them anything to get excited about.

Tournament titles aren’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but to put together one of the greatest seasons in program history and not take home any hardware is a bummer. It’s ironic that losses to Auburn cost the Vols both a share of the regular season title and the tournament trophy.

To knock Kentucky out in the dramatic fashion that the Vols did on Saturday only to lay a complete egg against an Auburn team playing its fourth game in four days was just a monumental disappointment.

It’s always debatable how much importance the selection committee places on tournament finals, as the brackets are largely completed by Sunday. Tennessee thrust itself right into the heart of the conversation to be a No. 1 seed with the win over Kentucky, but what does today’s loss do to their chances?

It certainly didn’t help.

3 — Auburn played it’s game, Tennessee didn’t — I thought, like many, that Tennessee would have a big advantage with the Tigers playing their fourth game in as many days. Obviously it didn’t work out that way.

Auburn wasn’t great offensively in the first half, but they caught fire in the second and threatened to run the Vols out of Bridgestone Arena before a late flurry brought the lead under 20.

Tennessee knew it would have to find shooters and contest 3-point shots. They did a poor job of it all day. Auburn got plenty of good looks in the first half, they just didn’t make many. That changed in a big way in the final 20 minutes.

The Tigers were a scorching 10-of-20 from behind the arc in the second half. Tennessee had particular trouble handling Chuma Okeke (14 second half points, 4-of-6 from three), who often ended up with Grant Williams trying to guard him on the perimeter, a match-up that was decidedly in Auburn’s favor 20 feet from the basket.

Tennessee did a poor job of preventing penetration, which inevitably led to help having to come over which left open snipers at the three-point line that the Tigers consistently found.

Offensively, Auburn played it’s game and Tennessee couldn’t get them out of it.

Defensively, at least in the first half, the Tigers did as good as anyone has all year at making it tough on Williams. It was hard for him to get the ball in scoring position and when he did they often took away all his options and forced it out of his hands.

This is the same team that he brutalized for 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting eight days ago but Tennessee couldn’t get him going early, as evidenced by his two first half points.

Williams was really good in the second half offensively, scoring 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting but by the time he got it going it just didn’t matter anymore.

Lastly, in terms of taking it to Tennessee, an Auburn team that ranked next to last in the SEC in rebounding margin (-0.6) took it to them on the glass today. The Tigers had a 38-32 edge on the boards but the real damage was done on the offensive end where the Tigers turned 13 rebounds into 17 points. Tennessee had just seven second chance points.

4 — Quick Hits — It’s hard to find many bright spots after that one but if you want to look hard enough I guess it’s encouraging that Lamonte Turner seems to be snapping out of the shooting funk that he’s been in since early February.

Maybe that huge shot against Kentucky was a slump-buster. He led the Vols today with 24 points, scored eight of their first 10 to start the game and shot a solid 7-of-12 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range. On the downside he had four of the Vols 17 turnovers.

Tennessee’s lack of production off the bench was really highlighted today. Auburn’s bench outscored the Vols’ 28-10.

Derrick Walker, John Fulkerson and Yves Pons had no points in 17 minutes.

Kyle Alexander opened the tournament with a monster game, putting up 16 points and nine boards against Mississippi State on Friday. He had four points and 10 boards combined in the two games against Kentucky and Auburn.