Auburn defense elite despite loss

Knoxville | With a rating of 83.8, Tennessee has the best defensive efficiency in the country by a wide margin per Kenpom.

Auburn’s defense was just as good as the Vols’ in enemy territory on Saturday.

No. 25 Auburn fell to No. 2 Tennessee 46-43 in Knoxville in what was an absolute rock fight of a game.

“We’ve played Tennessee a lot,” said Coach Bruce Pearl. “We’ve got some familiarity with their personnel and what they do. I’ve got so much respect for Coach Barnes and to be guarded that way makes me have even more respect. And I would think that the way we guarded him he would take notice of that from our team.”

In all of Auburn’s losses, an opposing guard had at least 24 points, but it was a complete flip of the script for the Tigers’ guards' defensive efforts.

Tennessee’s two leading scorers, Santiago Vescovi and Zakai Zeigler, combined to score only 10 points on 2-for-17 shooting.

“Kids did an incredible job defensively,” Pearl said. “Our guards, the way they guarded — Vescovi and Zeigler, nobody else (has done that). Doesn't matter. They did what I asked them to do. I can't compliment our kids enough for the way they locked in the scouting report.”

Per Synergy, Tennessee averages 0.897 points per possession (PPP) this season. Against Auburn, the Vols could only manage 0.563 PPP.

Auburn went on multiple long-scoring droughts, and at one point went 20 minutes without hitting a field goal.

Still, the Tigers were never out of it due to their defense.

“To hold Tennessee down to 27% shooting and 9% from three and everything that we did to give ourselves a chance,” Pearl said. “The effort and the energy, the toughness and the fight — I was very proud of my team.”