Observations: Tennessee 92, Auburn 84

C Johni Broome (Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The calendar might have still said February, but the game might have well have been in March.

Two teams with SEC championship hopes and top-10 national rankings in the computer metrics squared off in a matchup that was absolutely massive for both sides.

Auburn needed an upset victory to stay in the title race. Tennessee needed to protect its home court in the midst of an extremely difficult finish to the regular season.

Both teams went on critical runs. Both teams hit big shots. Neither team led by double-digits at any point. The effort and intensity were as good as it gets.

But, ultimately, Tennessee had the best player out there, and Auburn couldn’t seem to find a way to slow him down in crunch time.

“Proud of the kids — it was a really good contest, two really good teams,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said after a 92-84 loss in Knoxville. “Two teams that wanted to win it really badly. We did enough things to win the game… we score 84 points on the road against a good defensive team like Tennessee, you should be able to win.”

No one had scored 90 points on Auburn this season. Only three teams had scored at least 80, and the previous season-high of 88 came against Baylor in a season opener nearly three whole months ago.

No one else had a Dalton Knecht, though. The Northern Colorado transfer-turned-SEC folk hero was the difference Wednesday night, scoring 27 of his 39 points in the second half. After missing five straight shots, he hit eight of his next nine. Auburn went from up by eight to down by five in that stretch.

“I think his getting hot was about the time we may have had our biggest lead,” Pearl said. “At the end of the day, all you can do is tip your hat. Just tip your hat.”

Auburn will definitely feel like it could have done more Wednesday night, even in a second half when it felt like Knecht could do no wrong.

And the loss will definitely sting, as the Tigers will have to win down the stretch and get a little help from somewhere else in order lock down a coveted double-bye in the SEC Tournament.

But Auburn showed it could go into a tough environment and lock horns with one of the very best teams in the country. While there are no moral victories, that should matter in a couple of weeks — when the games become do-or-die postseason battles.

Here are four Observations from Auburn’s 92-84 road loss at Tennessee, along with the Rotation Charts, Nerd Stats and the Quote of the Night.

There was definitely an element of Knecht’s performance that made it feel like it just wasn’t Auburn’s night.

Knecht hit several jumpers with taller defenders such as Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams playing in seemingly perfect position. He was tough to slow down when he took it to the basket. He went 5-8 from deep, and the majority of those were well-contested.

But Pearl has a higher standard for his defense, one that has been excellent in almost every single game this season.