Tennessee has a three-game winning streak. How about that, sports fans!
Despite serious foul troubles, the Vols took down Auburn, 77-69, and completely ruined Tigers coach Steven Pearl’s homecoming. Defense, dominant rebounding and a barrage of free throws did it.
Believe it or not, the Vols finished with an amazing 25 of 31. They hit 16 of 18 in the second half.
The also surprising Food City Center crowd on a late-start, snowy Saturday night helped win the game. Auburn came in hot. It had won four in a row. The Vols led from wire to wire but the Tigers did threaten middle-late in the second half.
Freshman forward DeWayne Brown II #6 scored 10 points for the Vols in the Auburn win.
Nate Ament missed 12 of 16 field-goal tries, made 12 of 15 free throws and led Tennessee in scoring with 22. Jaylen Carey powered in 13 points, Ja’Kobi Gillespie had 11 and DeWayne Brown 10.
Gillespie was sidelined about 10 minutes with too many fouls. Three others were limited.
Tennessee prevailed inside without center Felix Okpara. A leg injury, apparently left over from the Georgia game, knocked him out of the lineup for the first time after 58 starts. Bishop Boswell, Amari Evans, Carey and Ament had eight rebounds each. Brown had seven.
“Those guys played big for us, obviously,” said Rick Barnes. “Our guards, three perimeter guys, eight rebounds. Jaylen had eight. We needed all of them. A lot of different guys, really, truly a team win”
Auburn did not shoot well against the Vol defense – 38.1 percent and 22.6 on threes. Barnes surprised friends and foes by using some zone.
Tennessee got off to a good start. It hit three early threes and had a 16-6 lead after about five minutes. The gap went to 27-14 and peaked at 37-21. Auburn closed the half with a flurry and reduced the deficit to 41-31 just before intermission.
The Vols started the second half with more fouls than points. Gillespie got numbers 2 and 3 very quickly and picked up his fourth with 13:35 remaining.
Barnes had a few thoughts on the overall foul problem. He said it was because Auburn kept pushing, playing hard. He said it had nothing to do with officiating.
“We fouled because we were back on our heels, they were coming right at us, and that’s where we got to mature as a team.”
The Tennessee lead dwindled to 59-56 with 7:08 to go. Boswell stuck in a long rebound and Gillespie came back with four clutch points to restore order. The Vols had an 11-4 run and hit free throws in the closing minutes.
Brown was big in the finish. He had five points, three rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot in the final five minutes.
Barnes is going to count this victory. It lifted his team to 5-3 in the Southeastern Conference race and 17-6 overall. Auburn is now 14-8 and 5-4.
Barnes said: “Believe me, Auburn’s good enough to beat any team they play in the country.”
The coach provided some insight regarding Okpara’s absence.
“Felix has some calf problems. He tried everything to get ready but he couldn’t do it.”
The injury was identified after the Georgia game, but Barnes isn’t sure what happened when.
Barnes smiled just a little about his zone defense.
“We put in a zone we’ve never worked on, box-and-one for a couple of possessions just trying to buy some time. My thought was we don’t know what we’re doing, but they may not either.”
Barnes sort of addressed Tennessee’s quiet three-point night.
“We came out and made some threes early. I don’t think we made one the last 35 minutes. Is that right? I didn’t think about it but I’m okay with that.
“If we could ever get everybody playing to a high level at one time, we got a chance to be a pretty good basketball team.”
Barnes had kind words for Coach Pearl, a Vol guard in 2007-11 when his dad was the coach.
“Steven has done a really good job. Auburn is a really good team. Steven’s team has gotten better from the beginning. They’re a very efficient offensive team. He does a great job of getting his players in the position where they’re really effective.”
Next: Tennessee will be at home Tuesday night against Ole Miss. Tipoff is set for 7. ESPN2 will have the telecast.
Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com
