Strange: Is Good Ship Tennessee sailing too far off course?

Team rallies from big deficit in the final 10 minutes, makes all the clutch plays down the stretch and pulls out the win.

Then the players run into the stands to share the jubilation with their grateful fans.

Tennessee had to take a dose of its own medicine here Wednesday night.

Auburn stole a chapter from the Vols' playbook, ripping the guts out of a 14-point UT lead and staging the upset, 83-80.

"We just kept believing,'' said the Tigers' Frank Tolbert. "No matter how much we were down, we were always thinking that we were going to win the game.''

See, Auburn was even borrowing Tennessee's quotes.

But you have to wonder when the Vols will use those words again.

That's three losses in a row. All on the road and by a combined six points, but still three losses in a row.

Considering the way this one went down the tubes and whom it went down the tubes against, you can't help but wonder whether the Good Ship Tennessee is sailing irreparably off course.

"You lose three in a row,'' said coach Bruce Pearl, "and, yeah, it rattles you some.''

The Vols officially are rattled. Their December magic is a fading memory.

All of a sudden a funny thing is happening on the way to March Madness.

"The most important part of the season is the conference,'' said senior Dane Bradshaw, "and we're digging ourselves a hole.

"We've got to look past that and get a win and get that positive vibe back in the locker room.''

A 1-2 SEC start isn't fatal, but there's no denying Tennessee has issues.

Free-throw misadventures reared its ugly head in the first half (5-of-12) but it was a moot point in the second. The Vols never got to the line after the 13:02 mark.

Shot selection was questionable, even by Pearl's permissive standards.

There's more. Even though Pearl altered the lineup to start the second half for the express purpose of shoring up the defense, Auburn scored on five of its first seven possessions out of the break.

And yet, on top of all that and with Chris Lofton curiously silent in the second half, Tennessee still led 66-52 with 9:43 to play.

"Losing big leads is a trait his (Pearl's) teams don't have,'' said Bradshaw. "I don't think it has as much to do with the coaching staff as with the players.''

Pearl had a hand in this one, though.

He was hit with a technical foul by official Tom Lopes with 21.7 seconds to play for coming on the court with an animated protest when Auburn was awarded a timeout instead of Tennessee getting the ball via the possession arrow.

Auburn led 78-75 at the time and then Quan Prowell hit the technical free throws to make it a five-point lead.

Pearl may have had a legitimate beef, but he nevertheless made it a two-possession game.

It should never have gotten to that point, of course.

But it did, and so Tennessee leaves town having failed to stop the bleeding from the Vanderbilt and Ohio State losses.

"There's not too many more rallying speeches to give,'' said Bradshaw. "We've got to get a win to get back on track.''

That win should come Saturday. South Carolina, fresh off a 38-point home-court loss to Kentucky, is due in Thompson-Boling Arena.

One interlude of home cooking, however, won't be sufficient to proclaim Tennessee back on the track it was on in December.

After South Carolina, the Vols go right back on the road, to Ole Miss and Kentucky. That's where they have to put that positive vibe back in the locker room.