In the final game of the regular season, the final chance for Auburn to get a signature win for its resume, the Tigers came through late in the game, earning a 79-70 win over No. 12 Tennessee.
"Where do you begin and where do you end on this one? First of all, the players, they've been through a lot this year. It's been a bit of a grind,” said head coach Bruce Pearl. “This team has been through some real adversity, but continued to get up off the mat and compete and buy into a scouting report. Just an incredible job. I'm so happy for the players.”
The victory gave Auburn its 20th win, marking the fifth time in six years that the Tigers reached that benchmark.
“Twenty wins matters. It's only happened -- it's the fourth time it's happened, maybe the fifth time in the last six years,” Pearl said. “We care about making history, we do. This team made history.”
The ending of the game was the antithesis of the struggles that Auburn (20-11, 10-8 SEC) has had late in close games this season. Over the final 6:13, the Tigers held Tennessee without a made basket from the field, going on a 19-7 run to turn a three-point deficit into a nine-point victory.
"Part of the reason we won the game was because Tennessee didn't score a field goal in the last six minutes,” Pearl said. “We held them without a field goal for the last six minutes, that's why we won the game.
In Auburn’s game against the Volunteers in Knoxville, Tennessee, the Tigers scored 43 total points. On Saturday, they exceeded that output in the second half alone, scoring 49 after halftime.
The 79 points scored by the Tigers were the second-most points the Volunteers (22-9, 11-7 SEC) have given up this season — only behind Missouri’s 86-point performance.
“To put 79 on Tennessee, man, that's hard to do against a Rick Barnes-coached team,” Pearl said. “They're so solid defensively. So physical.”
Wendell Green Jr. led the Tigers with 24 points, tying a season-best performance for the Tigers’ point guard.
“You know, I started off hitting just one three, got to the free-throw line. In the second half, they were switching their big men on me,” Green Jr. said. “My assistant coach, (Ira Bowman), the whole year, he's told me to just run at them. They're either gonna put two hands on me and foul me, or I'm gonna get by them. That's what I started to do. The last play, when I got the and-one, I ran at them, tried to go past them and tried to finish at the rim. I was able to do that tonight.”
It was senior day at Neville Arena and six seniors were honored prior to the game: Allen Flanigan, Jaylin Williams, Zep Jasper, Lior Berman, Babatunde Akingbola and Chandler Leopard.
“It means a lot. Guys have their family come in. Some of their families might have never been to a game,” Williams said. “To have them around and watch and experience the college life — and watch us play the No. 12 team in the country in Tennessee was amazing.”
On the day on which they were honored, many of the seniors played a part in the victory. Williams and Flanigan each reached double-digit scoring, combining to hit 10 of their 21 shots. Berman scored two, but his dunk with 10:36 to play gave the capacity crowd an energy it would not relinquish.
“Place was full. Place was loud. I thought today was as loud as I’ve heard it,” Pearl said. “So we are so grateful, and our fans got rewarded.”
Pearl was quick to credit Jasper’s defense on Tennessee's Santiago Vescovi as a large part of Auburn’s game-ending run.
“He fronted him. Had a turnover,” Pearl said. “He’s giving up almost a foot. But that’s a decision that we made because… I wanted Zep (Jasper) on Vescovi. Our best perimeter defender.”
Tennessee came into the game ranked No. 3 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, the metric used by the selection committee. It was a Quad 1 win — a win Auburn had been desperately searching for. Though the Tigers are not taking anything for granted, they hope that the victory cements their place on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
“I'm not gonna say that this is a guarantee for us to go on to the tournament,” Williams said. “I knew it meant a lot for us to have a chance to be in the tournament. Again, Tennessee is a really good team — a physical team, one of the top in the SEC. It was a good win for us as a whole.”
Auburn will return to the floor on Thursday night when the Tigers open their SEC Tournament run in the second round. Auburn will be the 7-seed in the tournament and its opponent will be finalized following Saturday’s games. The game will begin at 6 p.m. CST for a national broadcast on the SEC Network.
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Matthew is a senior from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @mattwallaceAU
