Late 3-pointer ends No. 6 Tennessee's upset bid at No. 1 Auburn, 53-51

AUBURN, Ala. — Miles Kelly hit a three from the corner with 30 seconds left and No. 6 Tennessee’s upset bid came up short at No. 1 Auburn Saturday night, falling 53-51 at Neville Arena.

Igor Milicic missed on a drive to the rim with 14 seconds left and Auburn grabbed the rebound, leading to Tahaad Pettiford making one of two throws with 12.7 seconds left to put the Tigers up by two.

Zakai Zeigler missed a corner 3-pointer with five seconds left and Auburn ran out the clock on the other end.

Tennessee (17-3, 4-3 SEC) led 51-47 with 2:07 left, but Pettiford scored at the 1:46 mark, setting up the go-ahead just over a minute later.

The Vols were led by 14 points, six rebounds and five assists from Zeigler. Jordan Gainey scored eight points and had four rebounds off the bench in 25 important minutes after missing practice Friday with flu-like symptoms.

Chaz Lanier had 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting, Felix Okpara had six points and nine rebounds and Jahmai Mashack finished with seven points and six boards.

Auburn (18-1, 6-0) got 16 points and eight rebounds from the still-hobbled Johni Broome, who missed the las two games with an ankle injury, and 10 more from Chaney Johnson.

Okpara blocked Broome and Lanier hit a transition three on the other end, putting Tennessee up 48-47 and forcing an Auburn timeout with 2:58 to gol.

Auburn led 35-30 after a Miles Kelly three and two Chad Baker-Mazara free throws, but the Vols punched back with a Zeigler layup followed by a Gainey three just a minute later.

Lanier tied with a deep 3-pointer with 12:10 left, snapping Tennessee’s 0-for-14 start from the 3-point line. Auburn at the time was just 1-for-13 from three and shooting just 27.5% from the field. 

Gainey hit Tennessee’s second three on an open look from the corner with 9:41 to go, putting the Vols ahead 36-35.

Mashack started a 6-0 run in the second half by diving onto the scorers table to save a loose ball. The save led to a Lanier transition dunk, then four straight from Mashack himself, who hit two free throws and scored on a tap-in put-back to put the Vols up 28-26 at the 16:04 mark.

Vols trailed 22-20 at halftime, after shooting 28.0% from the field in first half

Tennessee trailed 22-20 at halftime despite shooting just 28.0% from the field and going 0-for-11 from the 3-point line in the first half. 

Zeigler’s field goal with 1:44 left in the first half was the first made jump shot of the game for the Vols. He made another paint jumper on the next possession to tie the game at 20-20. 

A 6-0 run earlier in the half — two Igor Milicic free throws and layups from Felix Okpara and Jordan Gainey — tied the game with four minutes left in the half, after Auburn had built its biggest lead to that point. 

Tennessee got six points and four rebounds from Zeigler in the first half. Okpara scored four points and had five boards. 

Auburn took the 16-10 lead on three free throws from Chad Baker-Mazara, who was fouled at the 3-point line by Jahmai Mashack — continuing a troubling trend for the Vols — with 0.6 seconds left on the shot clock. 

The Tigers scored 10 second-chance points and had nine offensive rebounds in the first half. 

Broome led Auburn with nine points in 15 minutes off the bench, after being listed as a game-time decision on the SEC Injury Report because of the ankle injury that had sidelined him the last two games. 

Auburn shot just 21.9% from the field win the first half and went 1-for-10 from the 3-point line.

Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 9 Kentucky 

Tennessee returns home this week, but the schedule doesn’t get any easier. The Vols host No. 9 Kentucky on Tuesday (7 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN) before facing Florida on Saturday (Noon ET, ESPN) at Food City Center. 

Kentucky comes to Knoxville after back-to-back losses, losing 102-97 at home against Alabama on January 18 and 74-69 at Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats did not have a midweek game last week. 

Florida, which beat Tennessee 73-43 in Gainesville on January 7, beat Georgia 89-59 at home on Saturday. Since an 83-82 home loss to Missouri on January 14, the Gators have won three straight, beating Texas at home and winning at South Carolina on Wednesday, before the 30-point romp over Georgia.