PERSONAL ESSAY: The Silver Lining of the Auburn Loss Heading Into Tennessee’s SEC Border Battle on Tuesday

Tennessee Basketball
Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

By Walt Barron: A close, personal friend to Rocky Top Insider, Barron is a lifelong Vol fan who will travel when he can but mostly cheers for the Big Orange from his home in Durham, NC.

Losing sucks.

That is a fact.

Just ask the most competitive people in sports. They’ll tell you they hate losing more than they love winning.

Michael Jordan famously said “I hate losing. It’s not even a question.”

The late great Pat Summitt said losing makes her feel sick.

Nobody would blame the men’s basketball team for still feeling a little sick a couple days after nearly beating #1 Auburn on their home court. It’s only their third loss of the season, but one of the great ironies of losing is that the less it happens, the more it hurts.

Never mind how close the game was, reflected not just on the final scoreboard but also across every stat line, whose margins were razor thin. With about 2 minutes remaining, it felt like the Vols had earned the right to win. They were getting stops, making clutch shots and free throws, and out-hustling their opponent. They had a 4-point lead. The home crowd was anxious.

And then a combination of luck, a questionable call or two, and some timely great plays by Auburn turned the game just enough to result in a loss instead of what would’ve, could’ve, should’ve been the best win in all of college basketball so far this season.

But it wasn’t to be. As time ran out, Auburn’s players and coaches celebrated, reveling in beating a rival and securing their #1 ranking.

Yep, losing sucks.

Here’s another irony about it, though: it’s a gift.

Winning is satisfying, but it can breed complacency. Losing hurts, but it can motivate. Just ask Michael Jordan: “I have to respect losing because losing’s a part of winning…to win, you have to lose.”

Or Pat Summitt: “I hate how it makes me feel…but I love what it brings out.”

One thing it brings out is a desire to improve. Muscle tissue only grows bigger and stronger after tearing and repairing. Teams get better after facing adversity and learning how to be better. True road games have been the Vols’ Achilles’ Heel this season, but the Vols clearly have learned something since losing by 30 at Florida a few weeks ago. The improvement trend line is on a steep upward trajectory, and that’s not for nothing.

The other thing losing brings out is truth. It reveals the true character of the players and team. It tells you who’s willing to accept the results as they are and move forward, and who chooses to complain and blame others for what happened. It’s the difference between those stuck in “what should’ve been” versus those who know “what was” and “what can be.”

This team’s undisputed team leader has shown us his true character many times in the wake of loss over the past four years. When Zakai Zeigler’s family house in New York burned down in early 2022, he accepted the help of the larger Vol community, who raised a staggering $350k to build a new family house in Tennessee. After he suffered a season-ending ACL tear in early 2023, he attacked rehab with patience, persistence and determination, all the while supporting his teammates. Exactly one year later (an eternity to a 20–year-old), he returned to lead the team to an SEC regular season championship and second-ever Elite Eight appearance in school history.

After watching his potential game-winning 3-pointer rim out Saturday night, Zeigler hustled to try and strip the ball away from an Auburn player for one last shot, getting knocked to the floor in the process as the clock hit zero. As Auburn’s players were celebrating with ESPN personalities at the scorer’s table, Zeigler and teammates went straight to shake the hands of their opponents.

What they said afterward is just as telling.

“We knew going into the game that there were going to be a lot of ups and downs,” Zeigler said afterward. “We didn’t let the downs get us down. When times got down, the crowd got into it and all the odds were against us, we didn’t fold or crumble.”

This balance of acceptance and determination clearly rubbed off on his teammates too. Instead of harping on what could’ve been, Chaz Lanier focused on what can be. “We competed and fought our behinds off the whole 40 minutes, and we know that we can still get better. That’s something we can look forward to.”

None of this guarantees any future success, of course. Not Tuesday night against rival Kentucky, Saturday against Florida, or in their remaining road or postseason games. The vagaries of basketball make fools of prognosticators. There’s a reason we still call the ultimate test “March Madness.”

But the team’s response to losing this one shows it has a strength with staying power that can survive and outlast the forces outside of its control. The way a team loses matters.

ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes posted after the game that we may have just seen a preview of the national title game. In the wake of the loss, Zeigler knew the truth.

“Facts. Simple as that.”

No. 8 Tennessee will host No. 12 Kentucky at 7:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday night as the Vols look to get back into the win column. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage of the game from the Food City Center.

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