Auburn's SEC woes continued Wednesday night on Rocky Top, where the Tigers fell 78-67 to the Tennessee Volunteers (11-5, 2-1 SEC).
The loss keeps Auburn (8-6, 0-3 SEC) winless in the SEC and extends their SEC losing streak to 13 games.
The Tigers had few answers for the Volunteers' big men Jarnell Stokes and Jeronne Maymon. Stokes recorded his 26th career double-double with a 14 point, 14 rebound performance, while Maymon contributed 11 points and eight assists in the Volunteer victory.
Coming off his second worst scoring performance of the season against Missouri, junior guard Chris Denson led the way for Auburn with 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting.
The Volunteers' physical defense gave Auburn trouble from the very beginning and the Tigers shot just 35.5 percent in the first half of play.
Auburn struggled defensively as well, allowing Tennessee to shoot 48.3 percent in the first half.
Despite picking up two fouls in the first three minutes, guard KT Harrell knocked down a couple of three pointers and led Auburn with eight first half points. The SEC's leading scorer had 15 points and three rebounds for the game.
After forward Allen Payne swiped an errant Tennessee inbounds pass, junior guard Malcolm Canada hit a three as the first half expired to cut the Volunteers' halftime lead to 33-28.
The Tigers pulled within two after freshman point guard Tahj Shamsid-Deen opened the second half with a three, but that was as close as Auburn would get the rest of the way.
Auburn was outrebounded for the second consecutive game by a count of 42-28.
All five Volunteer starters reached double digits in the game, with Tennessee's top scorer Jordan McRae leading the way with 21 points and five rebounds.
Auburn returns to the Auburn Arena Saturday where they will take on the No. 7 Florida Gators (14-2, 3-0 SEC). Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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