The Auburn men's basketball team fell in the final second of a close game at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. The Boston College Eagles pulled away from the Tigers to defeat Bruce Pearl's squad 72-71.
Here are the final grades from the contest:
Guards: C-
Auburn’s front court was an enabler for the Eagles, who were able to get in the paint and torch the Auburn defense.
Boston College’s Jerome Robinson had 23 points and 11 rebounds. Robinson played an off-ball guard position and penetrated the Auburn defense all night. Mustapha Heron got the task of guarding Robinson early. Heron didn’t fair well as he got in early foul trouble. Heron was able to add 15 points and 7 rebounds in 29 minutes on the floor. Heron got to the basket and finished 9-10 shooting from the free throw line.
Guards Ronnie Johnson and Jared Harper both shot an array of uncomfortable looking shots. The pair finished the game 4-18 from the field. Harper was dead set on trying to make his jumper fall with many sporadic shots coming off a screen or on a catch and shoot scenario. Harper did have a big 3 that tied the game at 64 and after the Tigers were able to gain their first lead of the game. This lead grew to 69-65, but the Eagles were able to pull out a win in the end.
Auburn’s guards needed to keep the Eagles athletic front court on the perimeter instead of letting them blow by and cruise to the rim. Auburn came up with 11 blocks down low, but it wasn’t enough. Bruce Pearl said after the game, “they drove it to the basket every time they wanted to.”
Big Men: C-
The Auburn back court lost another crucial rebounding battle to Boston College, 49-32.
This shows the tale the game as Boston College was able to do everything better inside the paint. Horace Spencer’s stat line of 7 points, 6 blocks, and 4 steals looks like he did the job of securing the inside. Spencer was only able to bring down four rebounds and finished the game with four fouls. Spencer didn’t get much help as the team’s remaining big men failed to get more then 5 boards a piece. The small forward asked to play inside,
Danjel Purifoy exploded in Madison Square Garden. Once again Purifoy out-rebounded his other two teammates; LaRon Smith and Spencer. Smith was a non-factor coming the bench and was not able to score for the Tigers. Purifoy’s 27 points made him the games leading scorer, Purifoy also finished the game with 5 rebounds. The Eagles ability to shoot more efficiently and rebound better gave them the second chance opportunity they had on the last-second game winning bucket.
Auburn shot only 36 percent from the field as a unit, and left four points on the line as the Tigers finished 19-23 on free throws.
Final Verdict:
Auburn once again counted on the young duo of Heron and Purifoy to combine for more then 50 percent of the teams scoring load.
Both players looked great and added impressive stat lines. As good as the two looked, basketball asks for five players to be on the court for the game. This is a huge problem for the Tigers right now as they continue to look for a team identity and rhythm. Auburn cannot keep relying on the sheer talent of two players going forward and play the game based off of who has the hot-hand.
The Tigers will look to get back in groove against Coastal Carolina on Thursday at Auburn Arena.
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