By Camden Gober
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee stayed hot with a gritty 77-69 win over Auburn on Saturday night in what was Steven Pearl’s homecoming in his first meeting against his alma mater as head coach of the Tigers.
Both of these teams came into this meeting with their confidence at an all-time high. Auburn came into the game on a four-game win streak, and having won five of their last six games, while Tennessee came into this contest winners of back-to-back road trips.
Tennessee, however, was the team to come out firing on all cylinders. The Vols threw the first punch in this one and never looked back. Tennessee knocked down four threes in the first five minutes to build an early, comfortable lead, and from that point on, the Tigers were never able to take real control of the game.
“We got punk’d the first 15 minutes,” said Auburn head coach Steven Pearl.
Amazingly, Tennessee started the game 4-for-6 from three-point range; however, the Vols finished 4-for-13. Despite shooting struggles in the last 30 minutes of the game, the Vols were content to play their game and let the game come to them.
The Vols were unfortunately without starting forward Felix Okpara tonight, but the Tennessee frontcourt still ended up being the star of the show.
Even without Okpara, there was still a major difference between the two frontcourts, and Tennessee took full advantage of that. The Vols outrebounded the Tigers, 46-30, including 17 offensive rebounds. Even more impressively, Tennessee had four different players finish with eight rebounds, three of whom were guards.
Nate Ament led all scorers with 22 points. He finished 4-16 from the field on the night. On the bright side, the freshman went 12 for 15 from the free-throw line.
“Free throw line, he (Ament) was great,” said Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes. “He’s (Ament) seeing the game at a level where I think he let go of whatever pressure he was holding on to.”
Ament did not have the best shooting night; however, you can still tell that his confidence is at an all-time high right now. Ament looked comfortable within the offense, and his ability to get to the line at such a high rate continues to be impressive.
Tennessee’s ability to get to the line and make them count was the biggest difference in the game. Free throws have been the Vols’ Achilles’ heel all season long, but tonight was a different story.
Tennessee shot an impressive 81 percent from the charity stripe, cashing in on 25 of their 31 attempts on the night. For reference, Auburn ended up shooting 20 free throws, cashing in on only 14 of them.
After being implemented back into the starting lineup due to Okpara being out, DeWayne Brown played one of his best games in a Tennessee uniform. Brown finished the night with 10 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.
“He (Brown) went out and competed at as high of a level as he could compete,” said Barnes.
Brown has gone through some tough spurts this season, but the freshman stepped up in a huge way when his team needed him most as he played a season-high 33 minutes.
Guys like Brown and Carey were forced to step up because of injury, but also because of the major foul trouble that Tennessee found themselves in early in the second half. Barely five minutes into the second half, Gillespie, Ament, Estrella, and Boswell all had three fouls.
Auburn took full advantage of the Vols’ foul trouble and made numerous runs to get back into the game. At one point, Tennessee had four true freshmen on the floor at the same time, and those young guys held their own and did their part to hold onto that lead.
Tennessee (15-6, 5-3) has now beaten Auburn three consecutive meetings inside Thompson-Boling Arena, and the Vols’ win streak extends to three games. Tennessee will be back in action on Tuesday night as they host Ole Miss (11-10, 3-5) at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN 2.