Tennessee Basketball is advancing to the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament after a victory over Auburn on Thursday afternoon in Nashville. The 5-seed Vols overcame an 11-point deficit to defeat the 12-seed Tigers by a score of 72-62 in Bridgestone Arena. Tennessee will now prepare for a quarterfinals matchup against in-state rival Vanderbilt on Friday afternoon.
Tennessee got an early lead in the game, but Auburn quickly took control of things. The Tigers held a 7-point lead at halftime and maintained their lead through the first 10 minutes of the second half. That’s where things began to change, though. Tennessee went on a 20-0 run to claw back into the game and eventually take the lead. By the time Auburn scored to break up the stretch, less than four minutes were remaining on the clock. Tennessee kept its composure and got to the finish line without much of a scare.
Star freshman Nate Ament returned to the court after missing two games with injury. He looked like his regular self on Thursday, going for 27 points on 66% shooting from three-point range. Ament also got to the foul line 13 times, which was more than any other player in the game. Tennessee’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie was the Vols’ only other double-digit scorer with 15 points on the day.
After the game, both teams held postgame press conferences. Tennessee’s consisted of head coach Rick Barnes, Ament, and Gillespie, while Auburn’s consisted of head coach Steven Pearl, Tahaad Pettiford, and Sebastian Williams-Adams.
Check out both SEC Tournament postgame press conferences below:
Tennessee Basketball Postgame – Barnes, Ament, Gillespie
Auburn Basketball Postgame – Pearl, Pettiford, Williams-Adams
5-seed Tennessee will take on 4-seed Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday afternoon. The game will take place at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET.
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