AUBURN, Alabama – Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl said his basketball Tigers are preparing for a Tennessee team that has a variety of options on how to use its personnel. The SEC’s No. 1 Tigers will face No. 3 the Vols on Saturday in Knoxville with an announcement scheduled for 3 p.m. CST with TV coverage on ESPN.
“They put up some really interesting lineups,” Pearl said. “They put four guards there sometimes. They will sometimes put two centers there and sometimes they will put three playmakers – three very, very different looks that you have to be able to adapt to.
Tennessee’s strength this season has been point guards Santiago Vescovi, Kennedy Chandler and Zakai Zeigler and the team’s overall defense, which averages 15.7 turnovers per game.
Vescovi, a 6-3, 191 junior from Uruguay, is averaging 13.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists. He’s tied for the team lead with 6-0 teammate, 171 rookie Kennedy Chandler, who is averaging 4.8 assists and 3.4 rebounds.
Zeigler provided a spark off the bench as another option at the position. The 5-9, 167 freshman is averaging 8.6 points and 2.5 assists.
“It’s a tough group to keep up front,” Pearl said. “These guys are also a hassle defensively. I think that’s one of the reasons they fired guys. It’s a really tough lineup to play against.”
When the Vols use a formation with four guards, they rely on 6-6 rebounding, 214 junior Josiah-Jordan James, the second-leading rebounder at 5.5 per outing and the No. 3 scorer at 8.8 points.
When Tennessee wants to go with a bigger roster, coach Rick Barnes can play 7-0, 251 junior Uros Plavsic (4.0 points, 3.4 rebounds), 6-10, 246 rookie Brandon-Huntley-Hatfield (3.3 points, 2.6 rebounds), 6-9, 214 Gr. John Fulkerson (7.4 points, 4.6 rebounds), 6-8, 232 junior Olivier Nkamhoua (8.6 points, 5, 6 rebounds) or 6-11, 234 rookie Jonas Aidoo (2.0 points, 2.2 rebounds).
“Tennessee plays as hard and as physically as any team in our league,” Pearl said. “It will be a big challenge for us, a championship-caliber game.”
Pearl said Tennessee put a Final Four-caliber team on the ground in 2019 when the Tigers defeated the Vols 84-64 to claim the SEC Tournament Championship. “We’ve seen Final Four caliber teams from Tennessee before and I definitely think this is one of them,” he said,
Tennessee is making a late charge in league play by winning nine of its last 10 SEC games. The Vols, who are 11-4 in the league, are two games behind the Tigers in the SEC standings.
After Saturday’s game at Thompson-Boling Arena, the Tigers will play at Mississippi State and at home to close out the regular season against South Carolina.
Tennessee will close its SEC schedule with a game against Georgia and a home game against Arkansas, which is tied for third in the league, one game behind Kentucky 12-3.
“I’m just glad those games are important because in a time when I was at Tennessee, the Auburn game usually didn’t mean that much,” said Pearl, who is in his eighth season as Tigers coach. .
Auburn/SEC Notes: Auburn is one of six SEC teams ranked in the Top 30 in KenPom’.com’s adjusted defensive effectiveness list. The group includes LSU (3rd), Tennessee (4th), Auburn (8th), Arkansas (13th), Kentucky (22nd) and South Carolina (28th)… Auburn allows opponents to make 38.4% of their goals on the field, which among SEC teams is second only to LSU’s 38.3 percent. In league play only, Auburn is No. 1 at 38.2 percent and LSU is second at 39.2 percent… At Thompson-Boling Arena this season, Tennessee is giving up just 62 points per game to establish a 7-0 home record in SEC play while outscoring opponents by an average of 11.2 points per fight. The Vols are 14-0 in all home games this season.
The Vols are eighth nationally in steals per game (9.6) and ninth in turnover margin (+4.4)… Justin Powell, who traded from Auburn to Tennessee for his second season, is averaging 4.4 points and 1.7 rebounds plus an average of 16 minutes of playing time per game. He averaged 27.5 minutes of playing time in 10 games with seven starts as a rookie in 2020-21 before being called off for the season with a concussion. Powell averaged 11.7 points and 6.1 rebounds for the Tigers. He’s played in 25 of UT’s 27 games this season and has one start.
Auburn Walker Kesler leads the nation in blocks per game at 4.7 and is fourth in field goal shooting at 64.4 percent … Tennessee’s last win over the Tigers was Jan. 31, 2017, an 87-77 decision at Auburn Arena. Since then, the Tigers have won six in a row with wins at Knoxville in 2018 (94-84) and 2019 (85-63), but the Tigers are 4-17 in games at Thompson-Boling Arena and have just nine wins in 56 trips to Knoxville … SEC Freshman of the Week Jabari Smith made 2.21 threes per game for the Tigers, the fifth-most of any SEC player. Wendell Green is 14th at 1.75… In SEC-only competition, Green leads all players in assist-to-rotation ratio at 2.19-1… In the league, Auburn is No. 1 in scoring with 78.2 points per game and the No. 1 in scoring margin at plus 9.87 as well as a rebound margin at plus 6.4 with blocked shots (8.87) … The SEC announced an agreement with the city of Greenville, SC to host the 2023, 2024 and 2025 women’s basketball tournaments at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Greenville has hosted the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament in 2005, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Saturday SEC Schedule (All Times CST)
*Florida at Georgia 11 a.m. (ESPN2)
*Vanderbilt, Mississippi, noon (SEC Network)
*Kentucky at Arkansas 1 p.m. (CBS)
*Texas A&M at Ole Miss 2:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
* Auburn at Tennessee 3 p.m. (ESPN)
*South Carolina at Alabama 5 p.m. (SEC Network)
* Missouri at LSU 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
SEC Rating
Auburn 13-2, 25-3
Kentucky 12-3, 23-5
Tennessee 11-4, 207
Arkansas 11-4, 22-6
Alabama 8-7, 18-10
South Carolina 8-7, 17-10
LSU 7-8, 19-9
Florida 7-8, 17-11
Mississippi State 7-8, 16-12
Vanderbilt 6-9, 14-13
Texas A&M 6-9, 17-11
Missouri 4-11, 10-18
Ole Miss 4-11, 13-15
Georgia 1-14, 6-22