No. 2 Tennessee outlasts No. 25 Auburn in slugfest
For the the first five minutes of the first half, it looked like Tennessee's offensive woes had carried over from its Florida loss into its top 25 showdown with Auburn on Saturday.
The Vols, coming off of a 27.9% shooting performance on Wednesday night, came up empty on their first six possessions as the Tigers built an early lead, but Tennessee answered, taking its first lead at the 9:28 mark and never trailing again in a 46-43 bounce back win at a sold out Thompson-Boling Arena.
The win gives Tennessee (19-4, 8-2 SEC) sole possession of second place in the SEC standings pending the result of Texas A&M's game against Georgia Saturday night.
While consistent scoring production was hard to come by, guard Josiah-Jordan James, who tallied just 4 points against Florida, responded with a game-high 15 points and 14 rebounds for the double-double versus Auburn.
Forward Olivier Nkamhoua scored 9 and guard Santiago Vescovi finished 7 points while guard Zakai Zeigler recorded six assists.
Tennessee shot just 27.0% from the field and was 2-of-21 from 3-point range, but the Vols defense held Auburn to 23.6% shooting and limited leading scorer in forward Johni Broome to under his season average at 11 points. Guard K.D. Johnson scored 10.
The Vols also held the edge in rebounding at 47-42, which included 15 offensive boards that resulted in 10 second chance points.
Auburn (17-6, 7-3) led 8-0 before Nkamhoua put Tennessee on the board nearly four minutes in but Broome answered to up the Tigers' lead to 10-2.
Undoubtedly, the 20,000-plus fans in attendance conjured up memories of Tennessee's start just three days prior in which Florida took advantage of a slow start with a 17-4 lead, but the Vols didn't wait around as long to make a run at Auburn's lead.
James connected on a jumper that opened the way for a 15-3 scoring stretch that included 9 points from James to put the Vols on top 17-13 over the midway point of the half.
Neither team put on a shooting clinic, both shooting under 30% in the first 20 minutes, but Tennessee did enough to slug its way to a 23-18 lead at the intermission.
The Vols generated just enough offense to maintain their lead in the second half, leading by as much eight following an 8-0 run that swelled their advantage to 38-30 after a pair of James free throws with just over eight minutes to go.
But Auburn wasn't going away quietly, despite its inability to string together a strong scoring push. The Tigers used a 6-0 run, much of which came from free throws to pull within two with 2:49 left, but Vescovi made the play of the afternoon, draining a three and drawing a foul in the process.
The ensuing free throw put Tennessee up 44-38 and, at least for the moment, put Auburn out of reach. Wendell Green Jr. responded with a three, however and a Broome layup pulled the Tigers within a possession.
Zeigler free throws after Broome's basket put Tennessee back up three and Green's game-tying attempt missed just before the buzzer.
Tennessee plays Vanderbilt for the second time this season at Memorial Gymnasium on Wednesday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
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