When Bruce Pearl and his team walked out of Auburn Arena eleven nights ago, the Tigers were riding high.
Back-to-back home wins against then-No. 14 Kentucky and rival Alabama gave the program momentum it had not experienced in years. Two lopsided SEC losses later, the Tigers returned home, but they did not return to form.
Auburn got off to a slow start and suffered its poorest shooting night of the season, falling to Oklahoma State, 74-63, in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
“I’d say it’s OK if you didn’t enjoy that basketball, because that wasn’t very good basketball,” Pearl said. “I thought defensively, we gave a pretty decent effort. Offensively, [we] just demonstrated so few weapons, so few options.”
Kareem Canty led Auburn with 21 points, but he shot just 7-of-24 and 1-of-10 from 3-point range. Canty has knocked down only three of his 25 3-point attempts since the win over Alabama.
“We can’t have Kareem carry us for 40 minutes,” Pearl said. “He’s got to make plays to win the game, but not have to do it for the whole game. He can’t do it. Other guys have got to step up.”
Oklahoma State jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead and never looked back, growing the lead to as high as 14 on multiple occasions. Auburn went on several runs in the second half but shot just 29 percent and missed all 12 of its second-half 3-point attempts. The Tigers never led.
“The offensive execution is poor, and the buy-in to what we’re doing is poor,” Pearl said. “So you get to a certain situation where basically all you can do is put Kareem on a ball screen, spread the floor and see if he can make enough plays. But those are the things that your point guard should do at the end of games or at the end of halves, not for 30 minutes.”
While Tyler Harris also struggled from the field, he recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. No other Tigers scored in double figures. Oklahoma State placed three players in double figures, including Jawun Evans, who had 21 points.
Harris’ eighth double-double left him tied for the team lead with Cinmeon Bowers, who was suspended for Saturday night’s game for “conduct detrimental to the team.”
Pearl said he would anticipate the senior forward will return for Tuesday’s matchup against LSU and future NBA lottery pick Ben Simmons.
“His conduct recently has warranted his not playing the last 17 minutes against Ole Miss and then not playing tonight,” Pearl said. “He feels badly. He’s apologized. I’m hopeful that he can come back and finish the season strong. He just crossed the line.”
Bowers’ absence led to increased playing time for freshman Horace Spencer, who recorded career highs in minutes (27), rebounds (11) and blocks (6).
“Horace Spencer played really hard, played really well,” Pearl said. “He definitely was a factor out there. It was great to see him out there flying around.”
In the closing minutes of the game, Oklahoma State’s Jeffrey Carroll knocked down a three to increase the Cowboys’ lead to 10, stared down the Auburn bench and made a throat-slashing gesture. The Tigers, who have now lost three consecutive games by double digits, were finally put out of their misery.
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