Auburn basketball and the Tennessee Volunteers grew to become the Saturday heavyweight battle on the hardwood. Each Southeastern Convention rivals entered ranked inside the highest 10.
The Tigers had followers posted “WAR DAMN EAGLE” after the sport — as Auburn survived 53-51 in a defensive slugfest. Auburn’s win absolutely will shake up the highest 10, because the Vols got here in ranked No. 6 general.
It wasn’t simply followers posting their pleasure for Auburn’s victory. Even well-known alums chimed in. Main League Baseball legend Frank Thomas, who as soon as practically performed soccer for Auburn, took to X to hold forth on the win.
“What a battle that was! Massive Victory Struggle Rattling Eagle!” Thomas posted.
Even the Auburn X account could not assist however daring these three phrases as effectively.
Auburn resorted to a down-and-dirty aspect to prevail at residence. The Tigers struggled to ship a high-scoring effort. However showcased their gritty aspect in topping Tennessee.
How Auburn outgunned No. 6 Tennessee on the courtroom
Dylan Cardwell set the tone at Neville Enviornment. He grabbed an offensive rebound, then rotated to throw down a slam dunk within the first 11 seconds of play.
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Tennessee did not rating till the 17:55 mark of the primary, when Zakai Zeigler made his first two free throw makes an attempt. Each groups, nonetheless, delivered scoring slumps. And the largest lead was solely six throughout the first half. Auburn ended up taking the 22-20 halftime lead.
Each SEC foes ended up scoring the identical variety of factors within the second half at 31. Tennessee, although, took a late 51-47 lead with 2:07 left.
Tahaad Pettiford sparked the ultimate scoring cost on Auburn’s aspect. He banked a two-point jumper with 1:50 to go to chop the result in 51-49.
Zeigler then missed a layup alternative for the Vols. The ball landed into the palms of Auburn. Miles Kelly nailed his three pointer to carry the Tigers forward 52-51 — and bought the house crowd cheering loudly on their toes. Pettiford hit one final free throw from the white stripe with 13 seconds left.
Zeigler raced down the opposite aspect to fireplace one final lengthy vary try. Johni Broome collected the rebound, nonetheless, and Auburn celebrated the gutsy win.
The Tigers received even with solely two gamers hitting double figures for factors. Broome led the best way with 16 factors off the bench. Starter Chaney Johnson tacked on 10 factors. Pettiford added eight on the night. Chad Baker-Mazara chipped in seven on the scoring finish.
Auburn cleaned up the glass, although. The Tigers outrebounded the Vols 41-37. The Tigers even denied the factors in astonishing vogue — blocking 9 whole shot makes an attempt. Broome swatted 4 Tennessee pictures. Baker-Mazara led the starters with two blocks. Johnson, Miles Kelly and Dylan Cardwell every blocked one basket.
Auburn improves to 18-1 general and can preserve its place atop the nationwide rankings.