After Auburn's 12th consecutive SEC loss on Saturday, head coach Tony Barbee blamed poor late game execution as a major factor in the Tigers' recent SEC struggles.
"Offensively we executed fairly well, shooting 54 percent in the second half," Barbee said following Auburn's 70-68 loss to No. 25 Missouri. "But when it matters the most in those key moments, your execution has to be at its highest. In those key moments, in those last three or four possessions, our execution was at its lowest in this game."
Auburn's two SEC opening losses against Ole Miss and Missouri saw the Tigers fail to convert multiple late-game scoring opportunities.
Barbee said the Tigers must focus on the game's subtleties in order to improve in conference play.
"When you talk about conference play, and I talked to this team whether you're road or home, it's the little things," Barbee said. "These games are too competitive, the teams are too good. I've got a good team. We're playing hard, we're competing at a very high level, but it's the little things that make the difference in these games."
Barbee specifically pointed out the Tigers recent struggles at the free throw line as a cause for concern.
Auburn has shot just 60 percent from the line in conference play and left 12 points at the charity stripe during Saturday's two-point loss to Missouri.
"What I've talked about to this team from day one: free throws," Barbee said. "We got 14-for-26. There's the game."
Guard Chris Denson, who is currently the SEC's second leading scorer at 19.1 points per game, has struggled this season from the charity stripe. The senior hit just 8-of-20 free throws in the first two conference games this season.
"CD is a confident guy," junior guard KT Harrell said. "He struggled tonight, but we all believe in him and he knows that we need him to score. That's one of his roles on this team as a leader and we need him to be aggressive."
Barbee said building confidence in late game scenarios starts with repetition and execution during practice.
"It's not like we haven't been in those situations because we've been in it hundreds of times," Barbee said. "That's what breeds conference is repetition. We just have to continue to work on it."
Harrell took no issue with Barbee's game management after Saturday's loss and agreed with his coach's assessment of the team's late game execution.
"Rebounding and making free throws hurt us towards the end of the game," Harrell said. "We're really proud of each other just with the way that we fought. I think Coach (Barbee) made the right decisions on the plays to get us good looks but we just have to execute."
Despite the tight losses, Harrell seemed confident that the Tigers could right the ship.
"We've got a group of guys that are real competitive and no one wants to lose on this team," Harrell said. "We believe that we can win every game that we play. We got a group of guys that are mentally strong and we're going to bounce back and come out even stronger the next game."
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