GAMEDAY Mens Basketball
Tennessee 46, Auburn 43
(AP Photo/Wade Payne)
By AL LESAR
Associated Press
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Josiah-Jordan James scored 15 points to lead No. 2 Tennessee to a 46-43 over No. 25 Auburn in a game in which every point was difficult and nothing flowed.
The Volunteers (19-4, 8-2 Southeastern Conference) shot just 27% from the field and 9.5% from the 3-point line. They were recovering from a Wednesday loss to Florida in which they shot 28%.
The Tigers (17-6, 7-3) were led by Johni Broome with 11 points and K.D. Johnson off the bench with 10 points. LSU managed only 24% from the field and 11% from the 3-point line.
Jaylin Williams made two free throws with 2:47 to play cut Tennessee's lead to 40-38. Santiago Vescovi hit his first 3-pointer of the game and got a four-point play out of it for a 44-38 lead. A 3-pointer by Wendell Green Jr. cut the advantage to 44-41 with 30 seconds left.
A turnover on the inbounds play gave Auburn the ball with 23 seconds to play. Broome got a tip-in to make it a one-point game, and Zakai Zeigler made two free throws.
Green's last-second 3-point to tie clanked out.
Auburn scored eight straight points to start the game. Tennessee followed with a six-point run and an eight-point spurt early in the second half. Those were the longest runs of the game.
STAT SNACKS
Since statistics started being kept in 1999-2000, Tennessee is on pace to be the all-time leader in field-goal percentage (.348, Stanford, 1999-2000, is second .352) and 3-point defense (.225, Norfolk State 2004-05, .253 is second). . Through 22 games, the similarities between last year's Vols point guard Kennedy Chandler (now with the Memphis Grizzlies) and this year's Zakai Ziegler are striking (points per game: Chandler 13.5, Ziegler 11.4; rebounds: 3.0, 3.0; assists: 4.95, 5.05).
February 4, 2023
| Auburn | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| J. Broome | F | 32 | 5-13 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 3-9 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| J. Williams | F | 32 | 1-10 | 2-2 | 0-4 | 1-9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| W. Green Jr. | G | 34 | 2-10 | 3-5 | 2-9 | 0-7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
| A. Flanigan | G | 29 | 3-11 | 2-2 | 1-6 | 1-8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| Z. Jasper | G | 16 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| K. Johnson | 24 | 2-6 | 6-8 | 0-3 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 | |
| C. Moore | 11 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| L. Berman | 8 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Y. Traore | 8 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| T. Donaldson | 6 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 200 | 13-55 (.236) |
14-19 (.737) |
3-27 (.111) |
8-42 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 18 | 43 | |
| Tennessee | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| O. Nkamhoua | F | 23 | 4-16 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| J. Phillips | F | 19 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Z. Zeigler | G | 35 | 0-10 | 3-3 | 0-7 | 2-4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| S. Vescovi | G | 32 | 2-7 | 2-3 | 1-6 | 0-3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| J. James | G | 31 | 5-12 | 4-4 | 1-7 | 2-14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| J. Aidoo | 17 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| T. Awaka | 15 | 1-3 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| U. Plavsic | 12 | 1-2 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | |
| T. Key | 9 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| J. Mashack | 7 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3-3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
| Totals | 200 | 17-63 (.270) |
10-17 (.588) |
2-21 (.095) |
15-47 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 46 | |
