No. 6 Tennessee had its five-game win streak over top-10 opponents snapped Saturday night at the hands of No. 9 Arizona 75-70.

The game marks the end of a home-and-away series where the teams split games. Tennessee won in Knoxville last season 77-73.

The story that will be remembered from the highly competitive game will be – at least in the eyes of Tennessee fans – the officiating. Arizona shot 17 more free throws than Tennessee and the final seconds of the game were defined by a controversial no call.

Here are three takeaways from Tennessee’s second loss of the season.

Free throw disparities define game

Tennessee didn’t shoot its first free throws until the 15-minute mark in the second half. Arizona had 12 free throws in just the first half.

The free throws disparity was the theme for the game. Calls were going the Wildcats’ way and they were taking advantage of it. Arizona shot an efficient 89% from the line and got 24 points at the stripe.

“I have a lot of respect for these three officials, I’ve known them for a long time, but I’m not really happy,” head coach Rick Barnes said. “Because I didn’t see it that way. I don’t want to take anything away from Arizona, but we were going inside as much as they were, and I don’t know what to say.”

Tennessee’s foul trouble also limited its ability to play its usual brand of defense. The Vols were backing off on the perimeter and couldn’t contest at the rim the way they normally do because so many players were in foul trouble.

The Vols also had a chance to make it a one-score game with less than a minute to play, but Santiago Vescovi missed a layup where it looked like he took a hard foul, but nothing was called.

“That’s tough to take at that point in time of the game,” Barnes said.

Tempers flare in final moments

In the first half, Uros Plasvic scored on a fast break and then got in the face of an Arizona player on the way back down the court. This isn’t out of the ordinary for the passionate big man, but this time he was called for a tech, halting a six-point swing from the Vols early in the game.

That level of emotion stayed true all game, and after the buzzer sounded at the end of the second half, the Vols and Wildcats exchanged words before heading into the locker room.

That passion and emotion can be a good thing, but Barnes believes it got the best of his team – especially Plasvic – Saturday night.

“I’m not happy with Uros. I’m not happy with his antics,” Barnes said. “I’m really tired of it, because I think it hurts our team. We want him to be hard-nosed physical, but we don’t need the antics. He’s got to be more mature than that.”

Zeigler has signature game

Zakai Zeigler had a career-high 21 points Saturday night, shooting an efficient 8-for-11 from the field and 3-for-6 from deep.

If hadn’t been for Zeigler, Tennessee likely wouldn’t have been in the game in the final moments. He hit a huge three when the Vols were down 10 late, sparking a run to get them back within striking distance, though Tennessee ultimately couldn’t out with the win.

“We can control what we can control, and we’ve got to know we have to go out and give it our all,” Zeigler said.