AUBURN | With a chance to win only its fifth SEC regular season championship in program history, No. 3 Auburn flinched.

The Tigers settled for contested 3-pointers, of which they made just 5 of 24, the once-imposing bench totaled just five points and AU was out-rebounded 54-31 in a 67-62 loss at No. 17 Tennessee.

Worst of all, Auburn lost its poise for perhaps the first time this season. A stretch in the second half in which an 11-point lead turned into an 11-point deficit included three consecutive turnovers, and a number of poor shots and unnecessary fouls.

“Yes. Yes. Probably did. Just a little bit,” said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl of AU losing its poise. “That’s part of not executing and not valuing the possession offensively or defensively. With that 11-point lead, we had three turnovers in there.

“Jabari (Smith) had one on an inbound play. Al (Flanigan) had one in the middle of the floor playing point guard. Devan (Cambridge) had one in the corner jumping top in the air and throwing the ball to nobody. Those are three possessions that came down to the other end and scored and all of a sudden the 11-point lead is gone.”

The Tigers led 39-28 early in the second half but went 9:22 without a field goal, going 0 of 12 during that stretch, as the Vols roared back with an 11-0 run to tie the game with 12:51 left, and then went on a 10-2 run to lead by 11 with 4:03 left.

Nine of AU’s 12 turnovers came in the second half.

Auburn’s four bench players — Wendell Green, Jaylin Williams, Dylan Cardwell and Devan Cambridge — combined to shoot 2 of 19 from the floor including 1 of 9 3-pointers.

Smith led AU with 27 points, joining K.D. Johnson has the only two players in double-digit scoring.

“We got to figure out ways to get guys open and make the offense a little easier,” said Smith. “So I feel like they were just a good defensive team. They didn’t change anything; crowd just got into it a little bit and we had some self-inflicted issues.”

With Kentucky’s loss at Arkansas, Auburn (13-3) remains in first place, but with only a one-game lead over the Volunteers, Razorbacks and Wildcats with two games left to play.

Auburn plays at Mississippi State Wednesday night at 8 p.m. CT.