When the emotions settled for Auburn following the bewilderment of the controversial final sequence in its loss at Tennessee on Saturday, the Tigers looked around the visiting locker room at Thompson-Boling Arena and felt a sense of accomplishment.

It’s not that Auburn found a moral victory in its 46-43 loss to then-No. 2 Tennessee, but Bruce Pearl’s team left Knoxville, Tenn., feeling better about the bigger picture—even as it was disappointed in the result against the Vols.

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“That was a tough loss, but I feel like once we were in the locker room after the game, we were upset but we were kind of like, ‘OK, if that’s the No. 2 team in the country or like sixth now, we can win,’” senior forward Jaylin Williams said. “Like, we can win more games than like these reporters and everyone believes.”

Auburn came up just short in its upset bid on the road against Tennessee. The Tigers’ offense struggled against the Vols’ vaunted defense, but Auburn’s defense held its own in a hostile road environment while holding Tennessee to a season low in points — and its lowest-scoring performance since 2015 — as well as its second-worst shooting effort of the year (27 percent from the field) and its worst 3-point shooting performance since 2017 (9 percent).

Auburn nearly erased a six-point deficit in the final 2 ½ minutes, holding Tennessee without a made field goal during that stretch and getting to within one with 18 seconds to play after forcing a turnover with a relentless full-court trap. Auburn had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but Wendell Green Jr.’s 3-point attempt caromed off the rim on the final play, which included a contentious no-call despite Tennessee’s Olivier Nkamhoua making contact with Green on the attempt and impeding on his landing space.

Despite the three-point loss, Auburn was encouraged by its performance on the defensive end and its opportunity to steal a Quad 1 win on the road despite an inability to knock down shots, both open looks and contested attempts. The Tigers shot jut 23.7 percent for the game and 11. percent (3-of-27) from 3-point range, and they went an entire 20-minute stretch — half of the game — with just one made field goal: a deep 3-pointer by Green.

“The open shots were still contested,” Williams said. “Tennessee was sliding around, like, both teams, the defense was incredible. But yeah, just the shots were there. They were little contested shots that we should make.”

Even with the loss, which dropped Auburn out of the AP poll for the first time since the end of the 2020-21 season, the Tigers moved up in KenPom rankings (they’re currently 24th) and are 30th in NET rankings. The fight they showed on the road against one of the nation’s top teams, in a game in which the offense struggled to find any sort of rhythm, has the Tigers optimistic about the daunting road in front of them over the final month of the season.

That begins with a pair of Quad 1 opportunities this week, first on Tuesday at Texas A&M (40th in NET), which snapped Auburn’s 28-game home winning streak two weeks ago, then Saturday at home against third-ranked Alabama (No. 3 in NET).

“Well, if you love the grind, which I do,” Pearl said, “then you love the position that you’re in right now.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.