AUBURN, Ala. â Three days after Missouriâs finest performance of the season, the Tigers couldnât overcome their worst start of the year Tuesday at Auburn.
Maybe it was a Tennessee hangover. Maybe Auburn was just the hungrier team. But no matter how the Tigers explain Tuesdayâs carnage â an 89-56 clunker â this is a game theyâll want to burn from their memories before the team plane lands in Columbia.
Not 72 hours after DeAndre Gholstonâs 35-foot game-winner at Tennessee, the Tigers went one whole miserable half without a 3-pointer Tuesday ⦠rarely visited the foul line ⦠got punished on the boards (again) ⦠and gave away possessions like candy hearts on Valentineâs Day.
In a three-way tie for fourth place in the Southeastern Conference when the game tipped off, Mizzou (19-7, 7-6 SEC) looked far more like the team that Kansas beat the pants off in December than the team thatâs toppled five nationally ranked teams. In fact, with Zep Jasperâs corner 3-pointer three minutes into the second half, Mizzou fell behind by its deepest margin of the season, 57-25, eclipsing the 29-point drubbing Kansas unleashed two months ago.
Mizzou barely resembled the prolific, scoring machine that scorched Tennessee for 86 points on Saturday, finishing with 16 turnovers while shooting only 5 for 22 from 3-point range. Kobe Brownâs SEC player of the year campaign hit a snag with a 7-point night. Sean East II led the Tigers with 14 points.
Mind you, this hasnât been a vintage high-powered Bruce Pearl-coached Auburn team, nothing like the electric Final Four team of 2019, whose banner hangs in the corner of Neville Arena as a reminder of the programâs recent splurge. Auburn (18-8, 8-5) came into Tuesdayâs game with five losses in its last six games and in grave danger of missing the NCAA Tournament.
But in a game Pearl called âthe biggest of the seasonâ for his teamâs desperate postseason pursuit, the home Tigers played like their season was on the line. The visiting Tigers? A far more casual effort.
Auburn exploded for a 19-2 lead before Dennis Gates could call a timeout to settle his team. By then, Mizzou had more turnovers (three) than field goals (one), scoring just once on its first dozen possessions â a troubling offensive power outage that continued throughout the half.
Nick Honor finally shook the Tigers out of their offensive slumber with a layup just ahead of the second media timeout. But they quickly tapped the snooze. Mohamed Diarra embodied MUâs first-half dud when he tried to dunk over a defender and instead wedged the ball between the rim and backboard.
Auburn, the worst 3-point shooting team in Pearlâs two decades as a Division I coach, rediscovered its stroke against Mizzou â a common theme for SEC opponents this season â and made 6 of 12 in the first half. Auburn came in shooting 29% from 3, but by the end of the night connected on 9 of 18.
Mizzou couldnât hit a thing from deep, missing its first eight shots from behind the arc. The Tigers avoided contact most of the half on the offensive end, settling for jumpers on the rare possessions they didnât turn the ball over. They didnât attempt their first free throw until 4:18 was left in the half â and connected on just one field goal over the final six minutes.
By halftime, Auburn grabbed total control 45-18, holding Mizzou to its lowest scoring half of the season. MU had more turnovers (10) than field goals (seven) and came close to its largest deficit of the season.
Once again, Mizzou played without guard Isiaiah Mosley for the third straight game. Mosley, out for what the team continues to describe as a personal and private matter, didnât make the road trip that started with Saturdayâs game at Tennessee. The team did not return to Columbia following Saturdayâs game, spending a couple days in Atlanta before heading to Auburn. Mosley last played Feb. 4 at Mississippi State. His status going forward remains a mystery. The Tigers next host second-place Texas A&M on Saturday, a rematch of the Aggiesâ 82-64 win on Jan. 11.
