The Auburn men's basketball team scored a season low 54 points on senior night Wednesday as the Tigers fell 82-54 to the Tennessee Volunteers.
The Volunteers (19-11, 10-7 SEC) opened the game on a 10-0 run and never looked back as the Tigers (13-15, 5-12 SEC) struggled to score against Tennessee's physical interior defense.
"We really wanted to get this for these guys since it's their last time to play in this arena," junior guard KT Harrell said.
Senior leading scorer Chris Denson had his second consecutive poor outing and scored a season-low three points in the loss.
"I think he's pressing, thinking about the whole leading the SEC in scoring deal," Barbee said. "It's hard to play with that kind of pressure. We talked to him and told him to just worry about the little things."
The Volunteers, who are currently considered on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, rode hot three-point shooting from point guard Antonio Barton and leading scorer Jordan McRae to a first half lead that was as much as 22 points at times.
Meanwhile, Auburn struggled to find consistency on the offensive end and trailed 44-20 at the break.
"I saw a team whose offense again bogged down in the first half, just like it did in the last game and we dug ourselves too big of a hole," Barbee said. "I thought we fought in the first half but we just couldn't get any shots to go down."
Auburn found a bit of a scoring groove in the second half, but was unable to stop the Volunteers', who had all five starters reach double digits in the victory.
The Volunteers' frontline duo of Jeronne Maymon and Jarnell Stokes gave the Tigers problems on both ends of the court.
Stokes, who currently averages a double-double, had 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists while Maymon 13 points and eight rebounds before fouling out.
"They're hard to handle at the front of the rim with Maymon and Stokes offensive rebounding," Barbee said.
Senior Asauhn Dixon-Tatum scored 12 points and contributed four rebounds while fellow senior Allen Payne had four points and four assists in the final home game of their collegiate career.
True freshman point guard Tahj Shamsid-Deen led the Tigers in points with 17 points, including 5-of-8 shooting from behind the arc.
Auburn will conclude its regular season of play on Saturday when they travel to College Station, TX to take on the Texas A&M Aggies (17-13, 8-9 SEC). Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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