Saturday night was a tough one for the Tennessee Vols, falling 53-51 to the Auburn Tigers on Saturday night at Neville Arena before a national audience. Tennessee had two looks in the final seconds to win the game, just as they did earlier this month in a 71-70 loss at Vanderbilt. Unfortunately, Igor Milicic’s runner and Zakai Zeigler’s three point attempt didn’t go down, and Tennessee lost another gut-wrenching SEC road game.
So, in the midst of a treacherous streak of games against ranked teams, where do the Vols currently sit in the SEC? Here are the current standings:
Tennessee sits in fifth place in the SEC through about a third of the way through conference play at 4-3. They are a part of a glob of teams at the mark with Vandy, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State. Behind them is Kentucky at 3-3.
That’s truly incredible. The Wildcats, who went into Memorial Gym as the #9 team in the nation, currently sits at TENTH in the SEC. That also shows how close the Vols are from falling into the bottom third of the SEC. And for good measure, 0-7 South Carolina took Auburn and Florida to the final buzzer, losing heartbreakers. They also lost to Mississippi State in overtime on Saturday. If that all doesn’t show how ridiculously good the SEC is this year, top to bottom, I don’t know what does.
Tennessee’s road has been tough lately, but it’s not getting easier any time soon. The Vols have back-to-back-to-back home games against ranked teams in Kentucky, Florida, and Missouri before road tilts at Oklahoma and a return match with the Wildcats in Lexington. That’s brutal, but fortunately for Tennessee, they are a different team at home, so the next three games are crucial for Tennessee to get on the right side of a huge pack of middling teams in the SEC.
We’ll find out if they can on Tuesday night when the Vols and Wildcats tip off in Knoxville at 7:00 pm ET.