No. 2 Tennessee defeats Bruce Pearl’s No. 25 Tigers

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Tennessee’s defense pushed them past No. 25 Auburn Tigers in a thrilling 46-43 victory. The Vols’ 46 points were their fewest in a win this season.

Auburn got a final shot off, but it didn’t fall. Josiah-Jordan James rebounded to preserve their win, giving the Vols back-to-back wins against Auburn for the first time since winning three in a row during 2016-17 seasons.

The Vols held Auburn to 3-26 behind the arc and 13-53 from the field.

Tennessee was flat on offense to open the game and Auburn took advantage by mounting an 8-0 run to start. Just shy of four minutes into the game, the Vols finally get on board via Olivier Nkamhuoa layup. By the 15:08 mark Tennessee was 2-11 from the field and 0-4 on three-point attempts.

Josiah-Jordan James from the corner sinks Tennessee’s first three-pointer to make the game 12-11 Auburn with 10:11 to go in the first half.

Tennessee took its first lead of the game with under 10 minutes to go off a Uros Plavsic layup, 13-12 Vols.

But a Plavsic technical foul on K.D. Johnson sent him to the free throw line, he makes one and ties the game up at 13-apiece.

Tennessee regained its lead on a Nkamhuoa layup to go ahead 15-13 with 8:35 left.

TBA started to wake up around this time, sending the decibel reader to 105. Which is about as loud as fans got during the Texas game on January 28.

The Vols mounted its largest lead of five points off a Tyreke Key jumper to extend their lead 23-18 with 2:09 remaining in the period.

Tennessee heads into the locker room leading 23-19.

Vols started the second half quiet on offense, Auburn opened the period on a 9-5 run to tie the game at 28 apiece. Tennessee was 2-10 from the field by this point in the half.

UT then mounted an 8-0 run to make the score 36-28 with 9:09 left to play.

With 8:05 left, Tennessee has held Auburn to 9.1% on three-point attempts and 20% from the field.

With 2:31 left, Santiago Vescovi drills Tennessee’s second three-pointer of the game and TBA gets on its feet!

Copyright 2023 WVLT. All rights reserved.