University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
17-11, 9-7
Auburn
20-10, 8-8
Auburn Defeats Tennessee 66-53 in SEC Tournament
March 14, 2003 | Men's Basketball
March 14, 2003
Stats?|? Quotes?|? Photo Gallery
NEW ORLEANS AP) - Auburn has at least one more game in the Southeastern Conference tournament, thanks to a 66-53 victory over Tennessee Friday night.
But both the Tigers and the Volunteers hope they have more games ahead in the NCAA tournament as well.
Auburn (20-10), which had not made the NCAA tournament since 2000, was looking for a good enough showing in its first SEC tournament game to erase the memories of an embarrassing 22-point loss at Mississippi State on Saturday. The Tigers, 38th in the RPI, felt they had to have at least one more win to earn an NCAA invitation.
"I'm not on the committee," Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said. "I don't know, what do you have to do? We did it in the regular season. We've done it in the conference tournament. What do you have to do?"
Tennessee (17-11) has to hope its 9-7 conference record will offset a 51 RPI.
"I think this team is NCAA bound," said Tennessee coach Buzz Peterson. "We have too many good wins. I believe we have more season ahead of us."
Marco Killingsworth led Auburn with 17 points and 10 rebounds, Marquis Daniels scored 12 and Lewis Monroe added 10.
Ron Slay led Tennessee with 16 points before fouling out with 5:07 remaining. Brandon Crump and Thaydeus Holden each scored 14, Crump also had 10 rebounds.
Tennessee shot under 37 percent from the field and made just 12 of 21 free throws.
Slay had "I Got U UGA" on one shoe and "Higgs I Luv U" on the other. One was a reference to Georgia, which pulled out of the tournament because of academic misdeeds, giving Tennessee a bye in the first round. The other was a tribute to Slay's teammate Jon Higgins, who was ruled academically ineligible for the postseason.
"We're looking for another opportunity to get out there and play and what better than the NCAA tournament?" Slay said.
Auburn never trailed or allowed the Volunteers to come closer than four points early in the second half.
The Tigers, who snapped a five-game losing streak to Tennessee dating back to the 1998-99 campaign, outscored the Volunteers 40-22 in the paint.
Auburn led by as much as 11 in the first half as Tennessee went eight minutes without scoring and was up 31-24 at break.
