It’s a down year for the SEC in football and wouldn’t you know, it’s looking like it will be a down year for the conference in basketball as well. Not only is Tennessee dealing with coach Bruce Pearl admitting he lied to the NCAA, but they also stunk it up on the court Monday night.
The Vols fell to D-II opponent Indianapolis 79-64 at home in Knoxville in an exhibition game. Tennessee turned the ball over 25 times — every player on the roster had a turnover. Not only that, but they also shot just 50% from the line while Indianapolis essentially won the game at the free throw line. They went 33-40 at the line, shooting 83% from the stripe.
Auburn, in its first year under coach Tony Barbee, lost an exhibition contest to D-II Columbus State. The Tigers shot just 33% from the field and 35% at the line. Additionally, Auburn was outrebounded 50-44 and saw Steve Peterson hit the game-winner against them with 15.1 seconds left. The upside for the Tigers is that it’s just an exhibition game and at least they held their opponent to 29% shooting. Regardless, losing to a Division II school in any contest looks bad, and that’s exactly what Tennessee and Auburn did. It will likely be a long year for both programs.
