NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vols lost to the Auburn Tigers in the SEC championship game on Sunday afternoon, 84-64. It is Tennessee's largest margin of defeat this season. Despite a strong showing from Tennessee fans at Bridgestone Arena, the Tigers overwhelmed the Vols.
"This definitely hurts because we want things so badly it kind of shuts you down," said Grant Williams after the game, "but this is the perks of understanding that you play for another one, we're playing for the bigger one."
Auburn was 2/13 from 3 until hitting back to back 3s in the latter portion of the first half. Those buckets led Auburn on a 16-0 run.
The Vols also turned the ball over 12 times, allowing Auburn to take a 32-23 lead into halftime. It was the biggest halftime deficit Tennessee had all season.
"We just made some careless mistakes early in the game," said junior point guard Jordan Bone, "and we put ourselves in such a deep hole, it was kind of hard to get out."
Auburn started the second half with four straight buckets from deep. The Tigers used that momentum to take a 23-point lead, midway through the second half.
Auburn went on to shoot 10/19 from three-point range in the second half, never allowing the Vols to get within 12 points of the lead. The Tigers ended the game with an SEC championship record 15 threes.
Bryce Brown led the Tigers with 19 points. Lamonte Turner led the Vols with 24 points.
Tennessee turned the ball over 17 times that led to 21 points for Auburn.
The Vols' seed in the NCAA tournament will be announced on Sunday evening, the Selection Show begins at 6 p.m. EST.
"It's a great opportunity that just slipped through our hands," said Bone, "but thank God we have another opportunity to compete for something bigger."