Tennessee basketball has found itself in trouble when point guard Gillespie has been forced to sit out with in-game foul trouble. So, head coach Rick Barnes elected to find a solution.

When the Vols had a bye week between Kentucky and Alabama, Barnes withheld Gillespie from portions of practice so his team would learn to play without him. Practice made perfect, in theory, as Tennessee played a majority of the second-half win over Auburn without its lead guard.

“I thought the guys did a good job of just stepping up, kind of next man up,” assistant coach Justin Gainey said.

“But, just in general, to see our guys weather adversity throughout that whole game was promising,” Gainey said. “We’ve had moments in the past where a little adversity hit, and we didn’t respond how we should have. So it shows growth, it shows development and really excited about that.”

Gillespie played the entire first 20 minutes of the game, picking up his first foul in the closing seconds. Then, he added three quick fouls in the second half — including a second sinful foul on a 3-point shooter.

He was limited to nine minutes in the tight win. Auburn cut a once 16-point deficit down to three, and Tennessee had to learn to fight through the adversity.

Gillespie’s seat warmed intensely on the bench after his fourth foul with 13:35 to go. Barnes kept him on the bench until 6:12 remained. Over the seven minutes without the veteran guard, Auburn and Tennessee raced to a 12-12 tie — maintaining the five-point lead the Vols held when he exited.

They learned that proof was in the process.

“That we can do it, even when Ja’Kobi is not doing what he does normally,” forward Jaylen Carey said. “We are able to step up and help the team get a win … we showed it the other night.”

Gillespie’s struggles are part of an overarching theme with Tennessee defensively. Barnes’ tenacious defensive attack committed 19 fouls against the Tigers, including two that went for 4-point plays.

The Vols’ identity has been physicality, but there is a delicate balance of playing hard versus fouling.

Tennessee’s 18.4 fouls per game, ranking 230th in the country, suggest it can’t find the sweet spot. The Vols commit a foul 22.8% of the time, which has put them in situations such as Saturday — where Tennessee’s entire starting five finished with three or more fouls, Gillespie and J.P. Estrella adding four apiece.

“It’s a thin line, but I’d say a couple of the fouls that we had, specifically fouling the 3-point shooters, kind of uncharacteristic,” Gainey said. “We hadn’t really had a problem with that.”

It wasn’t uncharacteristic for the 2024-25 squad, whose efforts to foul a shooter beyond the arc came to be regular. But with a new team in 2025-26, that hasn’t been much the case.

Until Tennessee did it three times against Auburn.

“Those are really the ones that, they drive you crazy, right?” Gainey said. “Because the other ones, I mean, we’re playing hard.”

And Barnes has made sure to convey how to guard from a distance. After Saturday’s game, he emphasized Gillespie’s mistakes — but also pointed out how Amari Evans guarded a 3-point shot in the closing minute. The freshman stood back, crossing his arms.

While he would take that over a foul, neither is satisfactory for the 11th-year Vols head coach. He has a way with his words to get the point across.

“Coach likes to say you’re an idiot if you foul 3-point shooters,” Carey said.

Tennessee will have a chance to clean up the mistakes when it hosts Ole Miss on Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. ET.