Tennessee beats Auburn, 89-70

The image above tells the story of tonight's game. See the "AHHHHH!!!" expression on J.P. Prince's face? Well, that represents Tennessee's performance tonight. Do you see the "well, he scored and there's nothing I can do about it now" look on Rasheem Barrett's face? That pretty much sums Auburn's performance.

It was a long night for the Tigers, they were overmatched and in foul trouble early. It got to the point where Tennessee commentator Bert "Money!" Bertlekamp was actually wanting Auburn to score more. Were it not for Bruce Pearl calling off the dogs early, this thing could have gotten out of hand. However, Tennessee's fearsome foursome of Ryan Childress, Steven Pearl, Josh Tabb and Jordan Howell allowed a 15-0 Auburn run to cut the lead to 14, which with over 2 minutes to go was a little worrisome. Alas, Lofton, the Smiths and Crews came back in and finished out nicely.

As Auburn coach Jeff Lebo scowled on, Frank Tolbert played a game that earned him a lot of respect with Tennessee fans tonight. From draining 3s (24 points in the game) to grabbing boards (10 rebounds) and generally being all over the court, he showed that he is a quality player.

As a basketball fan, I have to feel for Auburn. The game tonight would have been similar to the match up the two teams had last year had Auburn not been so plagued with injuries to so many good players. All is not lost for the Tigers, as there are some winnable games down the stretch and in the SEC Tournament.

I wish Auburn the best of luck the rest of the season and earnestly hope that they take it to Alabama on Sunday.

In some game notes, Chris Lofton eclipsed 400 treys in his collegiate career, and is in position to threaten the all time record held by Duke's J.J. Redick.

This is the 30th consecutive victory for Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Tennessee showed marked improvement at the charity stripe hitting 12-16 (75%). Not sure about free throws with this team, as they hit them well in some games, and not so much in others. Coach Pearl assures us though that "they'll make them when they count."

Next up for Tennessee, as you may or may not be aware, is No.1 Memphis on Saturday night.