March 11, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Auburn Tigers guard Keyshawn Hall (7) steals the ball from Mississippi State Bulldogs forward Sergei Makura (11) in the second half at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images NASHVILLE — Auburn hopes to strengthen its return to the NCAA Tournament when it meets No. 25 Tennessee in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament Thursday afternoon.
The 12th-seeded Tigers (17-15) trailed by 10 points at halftime but beat 13th-seeded Mississippi State 79-61 in the tournament opener on Wednesday.
The Bulldogs’ 61 points were the fewest Auburn has allowed to an SEC opponent all year.
“I thought our defense played well for a while,” Auburn coach Stephen Pearl said. “71 possessions, 61 points — that’s what it should look like.”
The Tigers are determined to not let Bulldogs standout Josh Hubbard, who scored 46 points in a 91-85 loss at Mississippi State on Feb. 18, beat them. He had 22 points on 8-of-25 shooting from the field Wednesday.
When asked about the difference in Auburn’s effort in the rematch, Hubbard said, “I would say they were a lot more physical on and off the ball.”
Auburn has plenty of offensive talent in Keyshawn Hall (averaging 20.2 points per game), Tahaad Pettiford (15.2), Kevin Overton (13.5) and KeShawn Murphy (10.8).
The Tigers were ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s “first team” to fall short of the NCAA Tournament in the updated bracket and latest bracket matrix Tuesday evening.
The Volunteers (21-10) are ranked NCAA No. 12 in the same Bracketology and Bracket Matrix projections. 5 seed.
Tennessee, which finished fifth in the SEC Tournament, hopes to have Nate Ament back after missing the last two games with a right leg injury. He led Tennessee in rebounding (6.4 per game) and was second in scoring (17.4) behind Ja’Kobi Gillespie (18.0).
“Yes (I expect him to play),” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said after Saturday’s 86-82 loss at home to then-No. 1. 24 Vanderbilt ends the regular season. “And I told you, Nate wants to play. Obviously we’re going to listen to what the doctors say and play the long game with it. I think that’s what we’re going to do. But again, Nate’s a tough kid. And if it were up to him, there’s no doubt he would have played against South Carolina (March 3) and he would have played (against Vanderbilt).”
The Vols struggled offensively for most of Saturday’s loss, with Gillespie, who has increasingly become a focal point of opposing defenses, averaging 12.5 points on 8-of-31 shooting (25.8%) from the field over the past two contests.
Ament was the leading scorer as the Vols won eight of nine games from January 24 to February 21. The freshman forward scored at least 13 points in each contest during that span and had six games of 22 or more. He was first injured on February 24 in a loss to Missouri.
Ament’s injury against Alabama on Feb. 28 opened the door for JP Estrella (10.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg this season) and Felix Okpara (7.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg) to make bigger contributions.
Estrella missed two games in February due to injury but has played in the last four, with the last two perhaps being his best performances of the season. He had 22 points and seven rebounds in a win over South Carolina on March 3 and 20 points and 10 rebounds in a win over Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Okpara scored a season-high 20 points against South Carolina and stopped four shots and grabbed 10 rebounds against Vanderbilt.
These are two of the best offensive rebounding clubs in the country, with Tennessee leading the nation (16.0 per game) and Auburn ranking 17th (13.39).
Tennessee earned a 77-69 home win over Auburn on Jan. 31 in its only regular season game.
–Chris Lee (Field Level Media)
