NASHVILLE, Tn. — Much like two months ago in Auburn, the Tigers were making a furious late game push trying to overcome a late game deficit against Tennessee. But this time Tennessee made the winning plays to hold off the Tigers 70-65 and advance to the SEC Tournament Championship.
Here’s three quick takeaways on Tennessee’s thrilling win over the Tigers.
Fast Paced Start Settles Into Defensive Battle
The first meeting between these two teams was a low scoring slug fest. But in the game’s first 10 minutes, both teams came out red-hot.
In fact, Tennessee and Auburn combined to make its first eight shots from the field while the Vols made eight of their first 12 shots from the field and the Tigers made seven of their first 11 shots from the field. After 10 minutes, Tennessee held a 22-17 lead. To put that into perspective, Auburn lead 22-20 at halftime in the first meeting back in January.
But from there, the game’s pace and shot making went down as both teams defensive intensity picked up along with the game’s physicality. In the final 10 minutes of the first half, Auburn outscored Tennessee 16-10 to take a one-point lead into the halftime break.
The second half found somewhat of a happy medium. Both teams played incredibly physical and made the game an extremely slow pace. But there was some solid shot making on both sides. And despite the relatively low scoring nature of the game, Tennessee still scored 1.228 points per possession.
Johni Broome Gives Tennessee Fits
Auburn forward Johni Broome is one of two true contenders to win national player of year honors. The super senior played like every bit of a national player of the year winner in Saturday’s heavy weight fight.
Felix Okpara spent the most of the afternoon guarding Broome and did not do a bad job. Broome didn’t get a ton of easy looks at the rim but did a good job of getting to his right shoulder and scoring on the left handed hook shot.
Broome also hit some tough shots on fade aways on his way to a game-high 23 points on nine-of-13 shooting from the field. Nearly every time Tennessee got on a run or had held Auburn scores on consecutive possessions, Broome came through and hit a big shot for the Tigers with a number of them being difficult shots.
The 6-foot-10, 240-pound big man didn’t dominate on the glass but he was consistent there and grabbed seven including three on the offensive end.
Broome’s value was maybe most notable when Auburn put him in the bench midway through the second half and Tennessee responded with a 6-0 in 1:52 to push its lead to seven points.
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Zakai Zeigler and Jordan Gainey’s Offense Significant In The Second Half
Tennessee basketball’s starting front court combined to score just seven points for the Vols. But their back court was good and Zakai Zeigler and Jordan Gainey were particularly strong in the second half.
Zeigler played two strong halves for Tennessee, scoring 11 points in the first half before totaling nine more points in the second half with his one made three-pointer being one of the game’s biggest.
The senior point guard finished the game with 20 points and four assists in 35 minutes of action. He was also incredibly clutch at the foul line where he made all nine of his free throw attempts
Unlike Zeigler, Gainey was incredibly quiet in the first half where he totaled just two points. He came alive in the second half where he scored 13 points including four in the stretch where Tennessee pushed its lead to double digits.
Gainey had one of the biggest buckets of the game, driving past Dylan Cardwell and finishing high off the glass to give Tennessee a five point leas inn the final seconds.
The duo combined to scored 22 points in the second half and make 10-of-10 free throw attempts.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee advances to the SEC Tournament Championship where they’ll face either Alabama or Florida. Tipoff is at 1 p.m. ET at Bridgestone Arena. ESPN is broadcasting the game.
