Rotten oranges
Vols, Auburn make SEC history in total brickfest
“We had some good looks at the basket, but you guys have watched us. Sometimes they go in, and sometimes they don’t, but I was pleased with the way we grinded this one out.” — TENNESSEE COACH RICK BARNES
KNOXVILLE — The No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers and the No. 25 Auburn Tigers made some heinous history Saturday afternoon inside Thompson-Boling Arena.
Tennessee’s 46-43 triumph marked the lowest-scoring matchup of ranked Southeastern Conference teams in the Associated Press poll era, which began in men’s basketball during the 1948-49 season. The Vols and Tigers combined to miss 88 of 118 attempts from the floor and 43 of 48 tries from 3-point range.
“I think both teams played as hard as they can play, and every possession was a grind,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “I told our team that if we just play great defense and rebound the ball on both ends, we’ll always give ourselves a chance. I reminded them that we beat Maryland (56-53) earlier this year when we shot 29%.
“We had some good looks at the basket, but you guys have watched us. Sometimes they go in, and sometimes they don’t, but I was pleased with the way we grinded this one out.”
The Vols improved to 19-4 overall and 8-2 in SEC play, with another 20-win season serving as a goal Wednesday night at Vanderbilt. Auburn, meanwhile, dropped to 17-6 and 7-3.
Amazingly, that was not Auburn’s lowest-scoring game of the season, with Bruce Pearl’s Tigers having edged Northwestern 43-42 in late November at Cancun, Mexico.
“This is our most disappointing loss of the year,” Pearl said on a Zoom call. “We had a chance to beat the No. 2 team in the country. Our kids did an incredible job defensively, and I can’t compliment them enough for the way they locked into the scouting report.
“I’ve got a do better job of getting them better looks at the end. I’m very disappointed with the end of the game. Very disappointed.”
Tennessee shot 27.9% from the floor during Wednesday night’s 67-54 loss at Florida
and shot 27.0% Saturday, but that was scorching compared to Auburn’s 23.6% clip. Vols senior guard Josiah-Jordan James scored 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, tallying one more rebound than Auburn had made shots.
No player shot better than 50%, so James going 5-of-12 qualified as an accurate day.
“A game like this shows a lot of character, because it’s how you respond when you’re not making shots,” James said. “We think we’re the best defensive team in the country regardless of whether shots are falling. We always have to rely on our defense, and on Wednesday, we weren’t that team.”
Senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua added nine points for Tennessee but was 4-of-16 from the floor, while sophomore point guard Zakai Zeigler missed all 10 of his attempts, including seven from 3-point range. After Auburn sophomore forward Johni Broome made a layup to pull the Tigers within 44-43 with 18 seconds remaining, Zeigler was fouled and calmly sank two free throws.
Auburn’s hopes of sending the game into overtime were dashed when Wendell Green missed a 3-pointer just before time expired. There was contact between Green and Nkamhoua, which elicited different responses from the two camps.
“From where I was standing, O was straight up,” Barnes said. “Anytime you go from point A to point B or from point B to point A, it’s a foul, and there is that neutral area there. I’m guessing with the official right there that O stayed vertical.”
Green quickly posted on Twitter: “I respect all referees just like I respect all people, but what could you possibly have been looking at?”
Broome led Auburn with 11 points but scored six of them when the Tigers built a 10-2 lead before the first media timeout, while K.D. Johnson added 10. The Tigers went 3-of-27 on 3-point tries for an 11.1% success rate, while the Vols were 2-of-21 for a 9.5% clip.
Tennessee senior guard Santiago Vescovi scored seven points and was 1-of-6 on 3-point attempts, but his one make with 2:33 remaining included a foul by Johnson. The Vescovi free throw put the Vols up 44-38, but a Green 3 with 32 seconds left made it a one-possession game again.
“Even if we’re not making our shots, we’re confident in our defense and in rebounding the ball,” Vescovi said. “That’s where our main focus is. As a shooter, you have to have a short-term memory, and you can’t think about all the shots that you missed.
“You’ve got to think that you’re next shot is going in, because if you don’t, you can get in a hole. If you’re open, you have to take it.”