Auburn saved its worst for last.
A disappointing season came to an embarrassing end for the Tigers on Wednesday night at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, as Auburn fell to Tennessee, 97-59, in a game that was over soon after tipoff.
“I’m very disappointed in our play,” said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. “At times, I didn’t think we played together offensively. And there were times when teams played harder than we did, and Tennessee played harder than we did tonight. They wanted it more, and as a result, they got it.”
Tennessee was without its best player — Kevin Punter, who is out for the season with a foot injury — but Auburn was still unable to slow down the Volunteer offense.
Tennessee scored the game’s first 10 points and shot 54.5 percent from the field in the first half, building a 22-point lead before the break.
“They drove right past us,” Pearl said. “With the exception of Horace, we don’t have a rim protector, and we did not rotate over and help one another.”
Armani Moore, Tennessee’s senior point-forward, penetrated the Auburn defense seemingly at will. He topped four Volunteers in double figures with 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting and also led the team with five assists.
“He’s a strong player,” said Auburn forward Horace Spencer. “He’s a four-man playing the one. … Him going downhill is kind of hard to stop, but he sees the floor really well.”
The 38-point defeat was Auburn’s largest since 2005, when the Tigers lost by 41 at Alabama. Tennessee’s 97 points were the most Auburn surrendered this season.
“It’s very difficult,” said Auburn forward Tyler Harris, who scored 14 points in his final game in an Auburn uniform. “I can’t even tell you how hard it is to end something like this. I can’t even describe it, to be honest. I don’t have no words to describe it.”
The blowout loss caps off a season that featured the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
After knocking off Kentucky for the first time since 2000 and beating Alabama at home in its next game, Auburn appeared poised to finish near the middle of the pack in the SEC. But injuries, suspensions, ineligibility issues and the departure of the team’s best player caught up with the Tigers down the stretch. They dropped 12 of their last 14 games and slid to the bottom of the league.
“(Losing) takes years off your life. It just does,” Pearl said. “The way I’m built, it’s the first thing I think of every morning, it’s the last thing I think of every night. It identifies me, and I’ve never been identified as anybody that didn’t win.”
As tough as the year was on Pearl and his players, it hit its lowest point on Wednesday night at Bridgestone Arena, the same place where Auburn’s surprising run took place a year ago.
The Tigers won three games as the No. 13 seed in last year’s tournament before being eliminated by undefeated Kentucky, but this year was an entirely different story.
“It’s tough. It’s really disheartening the way this ended,” said Auburn guard TJ Lang. “I’ve seen the high of winning three games, and I’ve seen the low of coming out and losing. I just got to continue to motivate our younger guys coming in and other players getting eligible and just let them know that we’ve just got to continue to work extremely hard, because this feeling is not anything you ever want to feel again.”
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
