NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The fourth-seeded University of Tennessee men’s basketball team took down top-seeded Auburn, 70-65, in a top-10 showdown Saturday afternoon in the SEC Tournament semifinals at Bridgestone Arena.
No. 8/6 Tennessee (27-6, 12-6 SEC) defeated the third-ranked Tigers behind a team-high 20 points from senior guard Zakai Zeigler to reach the conference championship for the fourth time in the last seven events.
The triumph also gave the Volunteers their seventh AP top-15 win of the season, a new school record, including their fourth over a top-seven foe to tie the program’s best mark.
Fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier got off to a fast start in his hometown for the second day in a row, scoring eight points and making all three of his field-goal attempts in the opening 3:23. He upped his total to 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting through 9:53, as the Volunteers took a 22-17 lead.
Tennessee stretched its first-half advantage as high as seven, 26-19, with 7:52 left in the frame. Auburn (28-5, 15-3 SEC) then held the Volunteers scoreless for 5:15, a span during which they scored 10 straight points to go up, 29-26, with 3:27 on the timer.
The Volunteers responded to twice take the lead, but the Tigers took a 33-32 edge into the locker room. Tennessee made all seven—each came from Zeigler—of its first-half free throws, while Auburn missed four of its eight, but the Volunteers got outscored 9-0 in points off turnovers, committing six and forcing two. Senior forward/center Johni Broome, the SEC Player of the Year, paced Auburn with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting, while Zeigler led Tennessee with 11 points.
The Tigers scored six straight points in 70 seconds early in the second frame to go ahead by five, 41-36, with 16:43 to play. Tennessee countered with a 9-2 burst to claim a 45-43 lead with 13:37 remaining, at which time it also entered the bonus.
Auburn countered with a 3-pointer at the other end, but Tennessee then went on an impressive 17-4 run, including scoring eight straight points in 2:28, to go ahead by a game-best 12 points, 62-50, with 7:17 to go. It held Auburn without a field goal for 5:16, forcing five straight misses, and did not even allow a point for a span of 3:38.
The Tigers soon went on a 10-0 run, featuring two 3-pointers, in just 1:39 to get the margin down to two, 64-62, with 4:10 left. However, they got no closer. Sophomore forward Cade Phillips doubled the lead with a tip-in at the 3:24 mark and then, after a free throw by Auburn, senior guard Jordan Gainey made it 68-63 on a layup with 2:23 remaining.
Auburn scored with 1:16 to play to get the margin to three and then had a chance to level the score, but missed all three of their field goals and both their free throws in the final 29 seconds. Senior guard Jahmai Mashack iced the victory by hitting two free throws with 14 seconds to play.
Zeigler finished 9-of-9 at the line, his most makes without a miss as a Volunteer, and hit four of his five shots inside the arc to reach 20 points for the 10th time as a collegian and third this year. He led all players with four assists to up his 2024-25 mark to 234 and enter the 10 on the SEC single-season list.
Gainey totaled 15 points, five rebounds and a perfect 8-of-8 ledger at the stripe, tying his most makes without a miss as a collegian. Lanier finished with 12 points, while junior forward Felix Okpara grabbed a game-leading nine rebounds before fouling out in the final minute.
Broome concluded the contest with 23 points and a team-best seven rebounds, shooting 9-of-13 from the field and 5-of-12 at the line. Senior guards Miles Kelly and Denver Jones had 13 points and 10 points, respectively, but Tennessee limited the latter to a 1-of-6 and his line make was Auburn’s first of the day.
The Volunteers shot 25-of-27 (92.6 percent) at the stripe, while the Tigers posted just a 13-of-22 (59.1 percent) mark. The victors, who made their final 16 free throws over the last 16:19, also had a commanding 25-3 advantage in bench points.
Tennessee, for the 14th time, will play for the SEC championship Saturday at 1 p.m. ET when they take on either fourth-ranked, second-seeded Florida or No. 5/8, third-seeded Alabama at Bridgestone Arena, live on ESPN.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS POSTGAME NOTES
• Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes upped his career win total to 833, tying John Calipari for both ninth place on the all-time wins list (min. 10 years in Division I) and for the highest count among active coaches.
• The Volunteers improved to 76-58 all-time in the SEC Tournament, including 73-57 in regulation, 66-53 at neutral sites, 13-7 under Barnes and 10-4 versus Auburn.
• In addition, Tennessee now owns a 26-19 ledger in SEC Tournament games in its home state, including a 17-13 mark in Nashville.
• The Volunteers earned their 14th trip to the SEC Tournament title game, including their fourth in the last seven events (2018, 2019, 2022 and 2025).
• Tennessee improved to 82-46 in its all-time series with Auburn, which dates to 1927, including 8-5 at neutral sites.
• The Volunteers have won four of their past six games versus Auburn after dropping each of the prior six.
• Saturday marked the sixth time in the last 10 meetings both teams sides sported an AP ranking—it happened just twice before that—and Tennessee moved to 4-2 in those contests.
• Tennessee faced Bruce Pearl four the 17th time, moving him past Andy Kennedy and into sole possession of fourth place for the matchups by any active coach against the Volunteers, behind only John Calipari (39), Rick Pitino (22) and Frank Martin (18).
• Tennessee has reached the 27-win mark for the sixth time ever, including the fourth in Barnes’ tenure (all in the last eight years), while the other two were under current Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl.
• The Volunteers’ prior 27-win campaigns are as follows: 27-9 in 2023-24, 27-8 in 2021-22, 31-6 in 2018-19, 28-9 in 2009-10 and 31-5 in 2007-08.
• During its active 78-week AP Poll streak, which dates to the 2021-22 preseason poll, Saturday marked just the 16th time in 140 games the Volunteers have faced a higher-ranked team, improving to 10-6 in those contests, including 9-4 since Jan. 22, 2022, and 7-2 versus SEC opponents.
• After never previously posting greater than seven AP top-25 victories in a single season, Tennessee now has nine in 2024-25.
• The Volunteers collected their seventh AP top-15 win of the season, eclipsing their prior record of six set in 2021-22.
• Tennessee now owns four AP top-10 victories in 2024-25, matching 2021-22 and 1976-77 for the most in a single campaign in program history.
• In each of the three aforementioned seasons—2024-25, 2021-22 and 1976-77—with four AP top-10 victories, all four are over AP top-seven foes.
• Tennessee improved to 37-26 (.587) in AP top-25 matchups in the Barnes era, including 9-4 (.667) in 2024-25.
• The above overall record features a 25-13 (.658) ledger since Feb. 26, 2022, and a 16-6 (.727) figure since Dec. 9, 2023.
• The Volunteers are now 11-8 (.579) in AP top-10 matchups during Barnes’ 10-year tenure as head coach.
• Tennessee moved to 43-41 (.512) against AP top-25 teams under Barnes, including 27-14 (.659) since Jan. 22, 2022.
• The Volunteers upped their record to 17-15 (.531) against AP top-10 opponents in the Barnes era, including 15-9 (.625) since March 2, 2019, and 11-6 (.667) since Dec. 22, 2021.
• Barnes-led Tennessee teams are now 11-9 (.550) against AP top-five foes, including 7-4 (.636) since Feb. 15, 2022.
• The Volunteers improved to 9-2 (.800) against AP top-five SEC opponents in Barnes’ tenure, including 8-1 (.889) since March 2, 2019.
• Tennessee improved to 5-6 (.455) against AP top-three opponents under Barnes, including 3-1 (.750) versus such teams from the SEC (all four games are since Feb. 26, 2002).
• Over their last 31 contests versus AP top-15 teams—that dates to Dec. 22, 2021—the Volunteers now possess a 22-9 (.710) record.
• After the two teams totaled a 7-of-42 (16.7 percent) 3-point clip in their Jan. 25 game at Auburn—the Volunteers went 4-of-22 and the Tigers were 3-of-20—they combined to make their first five 3-point attempts through four minutes Saturday (three for Tennessee, two for Auburn).
• The Volunteers entered the bonus with 13:37 left in the contest and then the double-bonus with 8:06 remaining.
• In two games versus Auburn, the Volunteers held Jones to 1-of-14 shooting (1-of-10 beyond the arc), freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford to a 3-of-17 clip (0-of-9 on 3-pointers) and senior guard/forward Chad Baker-Mazara to a 4-of-14 mark (1-of-4 from deep), good for an 8-of-45 (17.8 percent) overall tally and a 2-of-23 (8.7 percent) long-range ledger.
• Tennessee has conceded 35 or fewer first-half points in 27 of its 33 contests thus far, including 29 or fewer on 15 occasions and 23 or fewer eight times.
• Zeigler’s four assists increased his 2024-25 total to 234, moving him from No. 11 up to eighth on the SEC’s single-season leaderboard.
• The one steal for Zeigler pushed his mark this year up to 61, tying JaJuan Smith (2007-08) for the No. 10 spot on the program’s single-season list.
• Zeigler has now scored 20-plus points 10 times in his career, with nine against SEC opponents, seven away from home, three on neutral floors and three in 2024-25.
• Zeigler’s nine made free throws tied for his third-most in a game as a collegian, with each of his top four totals on the road.
• Prior to Saturday, the most made free throws without a miss Zeigler logged in a contest was seven, recorded both Feb. 5 against Missouri and Nov. 4, 2024, versus Gardner-Webb, each
• Gainey registered 15-plus points for the 15th time at Tennessee, with 10 of those outings coming in 2024-25.
• The eight made free throws for Gainey tied a career high he has posted four prior times, just one of which—Dec. 14, 2024, at Illinois—came during his Tennessee career, while the eight attempts tied for his fourth-most in a contest.
• The lone prior time Gainey made eight free throws without a miss was Feb. 4, 2023, versus UNC Asheville, while he was at USC Upstate.
