Tennessee led wire-to-wire and was on top by as many 22 points, showing little mercy on former coach Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers in a 87-77 win Tuesday night at Auburn Arena in Auburn, Ala.

Tennessee (13-9, 5-4 Southeastern Conference) won for the fifth time in six games. Auburn (14-8, 3-6) fell for the fourth time in five.

Admiral Schofield enjoys playing at Auburn Arena. He recorded a career-high 22 points there last season and on Tuesday he led the Volunteers with 18 points, including going 4 of 5 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Freshman forward Grant Williams chipped in with 17 points, including 15 in the first half when Tennessee built an insurmountable lead.

Freshman guard Jared Harper carried the Tigers on his back, scoring 21 points. He had 18 of Auburn's 30 first-half points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field, and he finished 5 of 7 from 3-point range.

The Volunteers dominated from the opening tip-off, scoring the first five points of the game and then going on a 15-0 run to open up a 31-14 lead when Lew Evans nailed a 3-pointer at 7:38 mark of the first half.

Tennessee was comfortably ahead until Auburn made its first serious run and cut the lead to 67-54 on a three-point play from Daniel Purifoy at the 7:13 mark. But Jordan Bowden answered with a 3-pointer and the Volunteers pushed the lead back to 16.

Auburn cut the lead to 11 when Anfernee McLemore's jumper with 4:02 remaining made the score 74-63. Turnovers and fouls on three straight possessions appeared to doom the Tigers' comeback effort.

However, Auburn kept fighting and sliced the deficit to 81-72 with under a minute, but the Volunteers hit their free throws late to seal the win.