KNOXVILLE – The Tennessee men’s basketball team had an opportunity to build on the momentum gained from back-to-back victories over Florida and Kentucky with a battle against Auburn in the regular-season finale.
The Volunteers failed to capitalize, and in the process they erased some of the optimism they might have carried into the postseason.
Their 85-63 loss to the 17th-ranked Tigers on Saturday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena never felt close. The game’s first points came on a 3 by Auburn’s Samir Doughty from the left wing a minute into the game. Tennessee never seemed to figure out the Tigers’ 3-point shooting, as Doughty hit seven more, J’Von McCormick hit three and three other Tigers hit one each.
Tennessee appeared to be playing reactively instead of proactively on defense, leaving the Vols chasing the Tigers, whose crisp passing and penetration into gaps led to wide-open looks at the basket all game long. On the other end, the Vols shot 33% from the field, tied for their third-worst showing this season, and although they turned the ball over only 11 times, they also had just nine assists.
The listless performance puzzled their coach.
“I wish I knew that answer, but it was not a good practice by a couple of guys in this time of year when you’re really in a groove and you’re wanting to continue to build,” Rick Barnes said after Saturday’s game. “Like I’ve said, the young guys are closer to being sophomores than they are freshmen right now. We’ve been through enough, and it’s been an up-and-down season and we know now what goes into winning and losing, and preparation is the first key.
“I don’t care if it’s two days out, you’ve got to get prepared because we know we’re not playing many guys. That’s one of my regrets. I wish I would get those other guys in the game more. Again, if we come out and we dig ourselves a hole, it’s hard to put those subs in there, guys that haven’t played very much, and expect them to get us back in the game. That’s where it’s disappointing with our guys that start the game – that we don’t get off to better starts sometimes so we can get to our bench.”
The end result of a tumultuous 31-game regular season was a 17-14 record and a 9-9 mark in the Southeastern Conference, which was good enough for eighth place in the standings. It was a weird league slate for the Vols, who had three wins against teams that finished in the top half of the standings and two losses against teams from the bottom half, but the end result is a matchup with ninth-seeded Alabama (16-15) at 1 p.m. EDT Thursday in the second round of the SEC tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
The Vols won their lone meeting this season with Alabama, 69-68 on Feb. 4 in Tuscaloosa, a game they played without freshman guard Josiah-Jordan James as he missed time due to injury.
Here are two observations from Saturday’s loss to Auburn:
1. Still no bench production: After the game, Barnes talked about how he hasn’t really used his bench much this season. Not doing so early in the schedule could have played a role in its lack of production Saturday. Uros Plavsic – who wasn’t cleared to play until Jan. 14 – was on the court against Auburn for only 1:14, a time frame in which Tennessee was outscored by seven points. The same was true during Olivier Nkamhoua’s 2:08. Davonte Gaines lasted 3:33, and the Vols were outscored by nine. Barnes spoke of needing “a team effort” to have a chance in the postseason, and although Tennessee’s bench hasn’t been developed, he and his staff are going to have to be willing to provide chances when possible, because playing four of the team’s starters almost 36 minutes a night just won’t work at this point.
2. Bad guard play: Perhaps fatigue played some role in the loss, but it appeared more likely Auburn was just faster and better. Tennessee was 21 points worse in James’ 24 minutes on the court, 17 worse during Jordan Bowden’s 37:03 and 14 worse in Santiago Vescovi’s 35:41. Bowden and Vescovi hit shots when provided opportunities – they were a combined 8-for-20 – but when you can’t guard and you’re chasing the other team the entire game, it doesn’t matter.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.