The Auburn Tigers men's basketball team fell 77-71 in a rematch against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The Tigers (14-14, 4-10) could not hold on to their lead in the second half after going into halftime with a seven-point lead, "I thought some guys played well for about 20 minutes, but by the last 20 minutes we didn't have much in the tank," said coach Tony Barbee. "I don't know why that is."
The Razorbacks (18-11, 6-8) shot 58 percent from the floor in the second half. Razorback guard Rickey Scott led the team with 22 points. "You've got to take your hat off to them because they fought," said sophomore forward Allen Payne. "They never gave up throughout the entire game."
Payne scored 15 points--his season high. Junior guard Frankie Sullivan also scored 15 points and senior forward Kenny Gabriel scored 14 points.
The Tigers faced the Razorbacks without sophomore guards Varez Ward and Chris Denson, who have both been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules, Barbee said.
Despite the Tigers leading the Razorbacks by 17 in the first half, Barbee said they have room for improvement.
"I think our defense was pretty poor," Barbee said. "We don't have the team here yet to put a team like that away. We gave them confidence based on how we performed when we got up 17."
Gabriel said fatigue had nothing to do with the loss. Defense was the problem. "We could have won that game easily," Gabriel said. "All we had to do was take care of the ball, make some of those lays and just play defense how we were playing."
The Tigers look to make improvements in their next game, when they travel to Tuscaloosa to face the Alabama Crimson Tide, Feb. 29.
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