The Auburn men’s basketball team continued its home woes in an 84-61 blowout loss to LSU on Tuesday Feb. 24, in the Auburn Arena.
Jarell Martin led all scorers with 25 points while Jalyn Patterson and Jordan Mickey contributed 16 and 14 points for LSU (20-8, 9-6 SEC) respectively.
Auburn (12-16, 4-11 SEC) never led in its sixth consecutive home loss. Coach Bruce Pearl said the streak is merely a product of the competition his team is facing right now.
“It just has to do with the teams we’re playing,” coach Bruce Pearl said. “If we played these teams earlier in the season, we would’ve lost then.
LSU raced out to a 6-0 lead and eventually led 43-34 at the break.
Auburn clawed within three points five minutes into the second half, but LSU then broke the game open with a 15-0 run. The Tigers would cruise for the remainder of the game.
After criticizing his team’s defensive effort in a 110-75 loss at No. 1 Kentucky, Pearl said he was pleased with his team’s effort, but not the result.
“I thought they gave effort and continued to compete,” Pearl said. “My teams will do that. I’m not worried about that.”
Auburn was outscored 52-18 in the paint and allowed LSU to shoot 58 percent from the floor.
The presence of Martin and Mickey, combined with the floor spacing provided by Patterson, caused havoc to the Tigers’ defense, according to Pearl.
“Adversity reveals characters,” Pearl said. “It doesn’t build it. We’re getting beat down pretty good right now.”
Stumbling down the stretch, Pearl said the Tigers must now turn their attention to Texas A&M for improvement.
“We’ve got to focus on the next one, then the next one and then the next one,” Pearl said. “Texas A&M is going to be really good.”
The Tigers will travel to College Station, Texas, to take on the Aggies (19-8, 10-5 SEC) on Saturday, Feb. 28. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
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