It was a good showing for Tennessee. The ball just didn’t bounce their way at the end.
Tennessee went to war with the No. 1 team in the country at one of the toughest place to play in college basketball…. and probably should have won. The Volunteers led late, but gave up an offensive rebound and a corner three late to let Auburn squeak by. A good look in the corner from Zakai Zeigler didn’t fall, and Tennessee left the Plains with nothing to show for a really strong effort.
Tennessee got Auburn at full song with the return of Johni Broome and matched Bruce Pearl’s squad throughout the game. The nation’s No. 1 ranked offense (per KenPom) was held to just 53 points on Saturday night. It was a Rick Barnes special, but his team came up a bucket short.
Barnes wasn’t his fiery self during Saturday night’s press conference. So much so that he was asked why by members of the press.
“I should be positive,” Barnes said when asked of his upbeat demeanor. “They fought hard all night long.
“I love this team. I told our guys, you know what, we can get so much better too. That’s what I learned tonight. And again, we battled a great basketball team and a team that is extremely well coached and I didn’t think the crowd affected us. And I give that credit to our older guys.”
Those older guys — mainly Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack — really battled a tough group of Auburn guards. It’s notable that the usually hot-shooting Tigers went just 3-20 from long range.
Zeigler in particular made something out of absolutely nothing in the paint to keep pace offensively. The undersized guard got to the rim and found ways to finish against the Auburn bigs, which gave Tennessee a chance to win late.
“Zeigler plays the whole game, virtually,” Bruce Pearl said. “So at the end of the day, it’s just a battle of attrition. They ask him to do a lot. He has to do a lot. I think the biggest thing would be — now he still had five assists and one turnover. Incredible. Just incredible.”
Zeigler ended up with 14 points in 39 minutes of play, going a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw stripe.
At the end of the day, the end result doesn’t care about how much you battled. Tennessee fell to 4-3 in league play, and more of these results are undoubtedly on the way. However, going into that environment and coming away with that results lets you know this group is for real. They aren’t perfect, they have some holes, but they can compete with anyone, anywhere. Is this result different in Knoxville? More than likely yes.
There’s certainly another level to this team. Tennessee nearly pulled off the road win with just ten points from Chaz Lanier and virtually nothing from Igor Milicic. Not to mention the fact that Jordan Gainey was battling the flu. That’s probably why Barnes was unfazed following the game.
“I’m just proud of every guy,” Barnes said. “I just thought that we came in and battled the No. 1 ranked team in the country. Took it down to the last possession with a chance to win it.”
Tennessee will be back on Tuesday night to host Kentucky at Food City Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.