Auburn Men’s Basketball and Coach Steven Pearl entered this week with two absolutely CRITICAL matchups on deck entering the next to last week of the season. Tuesday night brought a matchup against the Oklahoma Sooners, and the weekend match slated the Ole Miss Rebels coming into Neville Arena.
Oklahoma and Ole Miss have been towards the bottom of the SEC standings for most of conference play. These two games were set to be actually more than critical for Auburn, if they wanted to keep their hopes of an NCAA tournament berth alive.
Well, this week for the team went south in a not so good way……
Oklahoma 91, Auburn 79
Tuesday’s trip to Norman, OK. to face Coach Porter Moser and the Oklahoma Sooners was test number one. The Sooners were playing with absolutely nothing to lose, with no hopes of making the NCAA Tournament and only playing for improvement in the SEC Tournament. After taking the opening tip, they played like it. Auburn has had problems of recent with perimeter defense guarding three point shots.
But this match was a double-edged sword for the Tigers because Oklahoma brought a large interior presence to have to defend as well, with Mohammad Wague. First half scoring for Auburn was improved over games of recent, with Kevin Overton leading with 16 points, the only Tiger in double figures. Oklahoma was led with a huge presence inside with Mohammad Wague scoring 14 points, and Nijel Pack adding in 12 points going 4-5 from beyond the arc.
Second half scoring ramped up for Oklahoma, with Derrion Reid and Xavier Brown getting red hot with Wague and Pack, but only Keyshawn Hall joined the party increasing scoring for the Tigers. Defensive issues loomed large for Auburn still with interior and exterior defense faltering. Keyshawn Hall and Kevin Overton finished the contest as the only two Tigers in double figures with 26 points each.
Nijel Pack led the Sooners with 22 points, along with Wague, Reid, and Brown adding 18, 16, and 14 respectively. In the postgame press conference, Coach Pearl left it real simple for everyone: “We had a lot of breakdowns offensively. We didn’t execute our stuff. But, defensively, it’s baffling some of the mistakes we’re making right now. And it’s just stuff that we constantly talk about. In order for us to win games… we have to cut that out.”
The Tigers ended the night 15-13 overall, 6-9 in SEC play, with Ole Miss on deck for Saturday.
Ole Miss 85, Auburn 79
Saturday’s matchup for Auburn brought Coach Chris Beard and the Ole Miss Rebels to Neville Arena, in what was set to be a must win for the Tigers if any chance of making the tournament was to be kept alive. The Rebels, like The Sooners, were playing with nothing to lose. Coming into the night 14th in SEC standings, they only were playing for improvement in conference tournament seeding.
Auburn came out aggressively, with Filip Jovic winning a RARE opening tip for Auburn with the result being an opening possession with a score. Ole Miss then took over the half from that point and really never looked back. A few scoring runs for Auburn came and leads of a handful of points did come, but Ole Miss would charge right back. Auburn continued to have defensive breakdowns constantly and really never could lock the Rebels down.
Keyshawn Hall led Auburn in the first half with 10 points, while Patton Pinkins, AJ Storr, and Malik Dia led the Rebels with 11, 10, and 10 points respectively.
Second half scoring for both squads picked up. While Auburn continued to struggle with defensive issues, Ole Miss increased pressure for the Tigers inside the paint, which led to issues getting to the basket on the interior side. After a brief lead for Auburn, Ole Miss pulled ahead and never looked back.
The Tigers got to within 4 points late in the half but were never able to pull ahead and close the game out. Ole Miss would go to claim its first win against Auburn since 2021, and Coach Chris Beard would claim his first career win against Auburn. Four Tigers would finish in double figures, with Tahaad Pettiford scoring 24 points, Keyshawn Hall scoring 21 points, Elyjah Freeman scoring 15 points, and Kevin Overton scoring 10 points.
AJ Storr and Patton Pinkins led the Rebels with 26 points each. In what was only a 2 minute and 30 second postgame press conference, Coach Steven Pearl left it simple again, maybe even more simpler than the Oklahoma game saying “Want to apologize to our fans that have been so phenomenal all year. They deserve better. We’ve got to do better. We had an opportunity to step on their throats and extend the lead. Both times, we had empty possessions offensively, and we can’t do that.”
Auburn enters the final week of conference play at 15-14 overall, and 6-10 in SEC play.
The Week Ahead……
Two must win games are on deck this week for Auburn basketball, if the hopes of making the NCAA tournament are even still alive.
This Tuesday night, Coach Matt McMahon and the LSU Tigers will make the trek to Neville Arena to take on Auburn on Senior Night. Tipoff is set for 9:00 pm with television coverage to be slated for the SEC Network.
SEC Conference play will come to an end for the Tigers this coming Saturday, with a trip to face Coach Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide at Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7:30 pm to be televised on ESPN. Auburn has a massive chance to end the season on a high note in this matchup, lets push them and support them to do just that.
