Tennessee basketball survived foul trouble and a serious second half Auburn push to knock off the Tigers’ 77-69 on Saturday night in Knoxville. The Vols held Auburn’s high powered offense to 69 points and made enough winning plays to get to the finish line.
Here’s three quick takeaways on the win.
Defense Carried The Day For Tennessee
This is not a super characteristic Auburn team, entering the game struggling defensively but ranked in the nation’s top 10 in offensive efficiency. Yet Tennessee got the job done with a vintage Volunteer defensive performance.
Auburn’s 69 points was its second-lowest total of the season. That was in large part due to a poor three-point shooting performance with the Tigers making just seven-of-31 attempts from deep. The Vols did a good job defending the three-point line, when they weren’t fouling three-point shooters, but Auburn also missed some good looks.
Despite battling foul trouble, Bishop Boswell did a solid job on Auburn star wing Keyshawn Hall. The 6-foot-7 wing still went for 21 points but it took him 17 shots to get there. Tahaad Pettiford, 11 points on 14 shots, was the only other Tiger in double figures.
Tennessee forced Auburn into 10 turnovers, which was above its season average, and held them to a pedestrian 29% offensive rebound rate— nearly 10% worse then the Tigers’ season average.
Tennessee Did It With A Quiet Ja’Kobi Gillespie Performance
Senior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie has been Tennessee’s most consistent and best player this season. Through the first seven SEC games, Gillespie was averaging 21 points and had scored 12-plus points in every game. But for a few reasons, Gillespie was very quiet against Auburn.
Gillespie took just four shots in the first half as Auburn put a clear emphasis on taking the ball out of his hands. But foul trouble was the bigger story. Gillespie picked up his first foul with three seconds left in the first half on a three-point shot. He picked up two more in the first four minutes of the second half and his fourth on another three-point shot with 13:39 remaining in the game.
Despite scoring some clutch baskets after checking back in, Gillespie still finished the night with just 11 points, five assists and three turnovers.
In the first half, Jaylen Carey gave Tennessee a major spark. He was coming off two of his worst performances of the season but went for 11 points and six rebounds in the second half.
Nate Ament had a poor night shooting from the field but hit a couple triples and consistently got to the line on his way to a game-high 11 points. Besides that, it was just a team effort offensively. Four Tennessee players scored between six and 10 points.
More From RTI: Tennessee Basketball Starter Out Against Auburn
Tennessee Cut Down Its Rotation Before Foul Trouble Intervened
Rick Barnes has given more players minutes this season then he has in a number of years. But we’re starting to see him cut down the rotation as SEC play heats up. Felix Okpara missing the game due to injury was certainly a sizable pice of the puzzle, but Tennessee played nine players against Auburn including Amaree Abram and Troy Henderson who totaled two minutes each.
The front court substituting was not odd or surprising with all three of JP Estrella, DeWayne Brown and Jaylen Carey splitting minutes and Barnes riding the hot hand. But the backcourt is where Barnes is cutting some fat. Tennessee’s three starters as well as Amari Evans were the only perimeter players who played significant minutes.
Foul trouble changed the dynamics a bit in the second half with four starters picking up their third foul by the first media timeout in the second half. That led to Troy Henderson’s first minutes of the game, but even then Tennessee mostly stuck with the same players.
We’ll see if he changes the dynamic moving forward but Ethan Burg is completely on the outside looking in while Abram’s role is diminishing. This was not just a one game oddity either. Only eight Tennessee players totaled double digit minutes at Georgia while it was only seven players against Alabama.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee basketball is back in action Tuesday night against Ole Miss. Tipoff from Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center is at 7 p.m. ET. ESPN2 is broadcasting the game.
