Auburn wins, 84-80.

Auburn now is 22-9 overall, 11-7 in league play.

AUBURN BY THE NUMBERS
2FG: 13-of-22 (59%)
3FG: 13-of-34 (38%)
FT: 19-of-24 (79%)

Tennessee grabbed more rebounds, 39-27.

Auburn is 7-5 this season when being out-rebounded.

TENNESSEE BY THE NUMBERS
2FG: 20-of-33 (61%)
3FG: 9-of-28 (32%)
FT: 13-of-16 (81%)

MY AUBURN PLAYER OF THE GAME
F Chuma Okeke: 22 points (9-of-14 shooting), 5 rebounds, 4 steals

FROM THE TENNESSEE SIDE

"We didn't guard the ball well enough — either on the perimeter or inside. If you look at the 19 points off 13 turnovers, we normally don't do that and you have to give them credit for that." — Tennessee coach Rick Barnes

FROM THE AUBURN SIDE

• This story/column typically focuses on the technical side of Auburn's basketball enterprise, but this victory requires me to take a slightly different tack at the top. When this team was gutter stomped in Lexington on Feb. 23 — and that was as graphic a beat-down as you'll see a Bruce Pearl team take — I thought I saw a team in crisis. They had scorers, they had experience, sure, but they lacked poise and aggression and rebounding. I figured the Tigers were limping to the proverbial finish line like they did last season. Instead, they regrouped and focused on changing bad habits that led to catastrophic failures. Those habits? Turnovers, quick threes, forcing the issue in transition, unnecessary dribbling. Bruce Pearl gambled on the fact that his team's remarkable ability to create turnovers could erase some of this team's systemic shortcomings. For that to work, Auburn also had to stop engaging in these self-defeating behaviors. He framed it by saying the season wasn't salvageable without a meaningful shift in how this team values possessions and how each player views his role. No more hero ball. No more 0-for-10 ruts from 26 feet. The result has been nothing short of incredible. Auburn has won four in a row since the UK loss and it's secured a spot in the NCAA Tournament with a realistic shot at the Sweet Sixteen. There is much left to do, of course, but this team deserves a lot of credit for being able to re-think how it plays — and actually correct some of those bad habits. That's exceptionally difficult to do in February and March.

• Pearl on this regrouping project: "Resiliency inside the locker room is all about relationships, keeping it together."

• Auburn finished with a season-low five turnovers, coaxed 13 Tennessee turnovers and created a +14 advantage in points off turnovers.

• Bryce Brown on finishing with so few turnovers: "We didn't worry about making mistakes."

• The Tigers used a similar points-off-turnovers advantage to overcome a poor (yet victorious) rebounding performance against MSU. This is how Pearl plans to mitigate his team's conspicuous difficulties in terms of rebounding against physically imposing opponents. The scheme has been working of late, but it'll be difficult to overcome massive rebounding disparities every time out.

• We're watching the rise of Chuma Okeke. I don't think he'll ever be an MVP-level player because he's so quiet and unassuming, but the sophomore has become this team's most important player. That was easy to see Saturday after Okeke burned the Volunteers to the tune of 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting. What really stands out about Okeke is that he's learned how to create his own shot inside. He also can shoot from the perimeter. He also can defend shooting guards and forwards and centers without picking up fouls en masse. He also finishes at the rim more consistently than any Auburn player. He's reminiscent of former Duke forward Shane Battier, who enjoyed a 14-year NBA career doing the same kinds of things.

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• Pearl believes Okeke deserves to the on the SEC's All-Defensive Team despite a lack of big rebounding and/or block numbers. "He is a tremendous defender," Pearl said. "He can guard Jordan Bone, he can guard Kira Lewis on switches, he can guard Admiral Schofield. He's got the size, the length, the foot speed. He's always in the right place defensively. He's as good as I've coached defensively."

• Tennessee's excellent forward, Grant Williams, finished a game-high 25 points and nine rebounds. He was the visitors' best player Saturday. So why didn't Pearl ask Okeke to defend Williams more often? Pearl explained that he appreciated the job Okeke did taking Admiral Schofield out of the Vols' plans — he finished with 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting — and thought Schofield's ability to work along the perimeter made him a more difficult matchup for Horace Spencer and Ant McLemore. "I'll stick with Anfernee and Horace," Pearl said. "Down the stretch, we've got to get a rebound, we've got to get a stop. Next time."

• Samir Doughty's first varsity season has been a mild disappointment, but he'll always have today's game on the positive side of the ledger. Grant Williams swatted a Jared Harper drive toward the Auburn sideline with 1:20 remaining Saturday, but Doughty snagged the ball and immediately put up a three ball. That bucket moved Auburn ahead by six points — and nearly blew the roof off Auburn Arena. It was the biggest make during the biggest game of the year. Doughty is shooting 44 percent from long range this season.

• Another strong, smart performance from Jared Harper. He finished with eight assists and two turnovers — an acceptable ratio from Pearl's perspective — and never stopped attacking the basket. He went 2-of-7 from long range with a few ill-conceived shots, but that's just part of his game. As long as Harper is controlling tempo and moving the ball without turning it over, he's going to help Auburn win. It's worth noting that Harper seemed out of sorts during the early stages of the game, missing his first three shots. He avoided the temptation to immediately shoot his way out of the slump and instead focused on distributing the ball to his teammates. He simply couldn't change gears like that during past seasons.

• Auburn now is 4-7 against Quadrant I games this season. Three of those wins have occurred during the past two weeks. Earlier victories over Florida and Washington have fallen off the ledger due to those teams' recent struggles.

• Auburn has won six of its last seven games — including four in a row. It finished the regular season 2-3 last season.