After losing five of their last six games, Auburn came out sizzling Saturday afternoon, defeating the visiting Missouri Tigers by a score of 89-78 in the regular-season finale.
"It's good to get this one and play better," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "Defensively, I thought we were pretty engaged."
Auburn built a 16-point first half lead and, despite a few scattered runs from Missouri, the big lead and the hot shooting was enough to push them across the finish line with a win heading into the SEC Tournament next week. The home Tigers shot an impressive 69 percent as a team in the first half, finishing 22 of 32 from the field. At one point, Auburn made 12 straight shots, riding a 21-5 run to a 14-point lead at halftime.
"We were lucky to be down 14 at the half the way they were shooting the ball," Missouri head coach Kim Anderson said. "Senior Night, they were revved up and they played well."
Missouri, however, came out of the break determined to fight and notch a rare road win. The visiting Tigers pulled within eight points, cutting the lead to 56-48 three minutes into the second half. Auburn weathered the storm by responding with an 8-0 run of its own and eventually ran away with it after that, avoiding what would have been a monumental slip-up at home.
"We were down eight and we had a chance to knock down an open three in the second half," Anderson said. "That's kind of been the story of our season.”
Overall, Auburn shot a season-high 56.1 percent for the game, while also shooting 34.6 percent beyond the arc. The offensive onslaught was led by freshman phenom Mustapha Heron, who dropped 20 points and was extremely efficient, going 6 of 7 from the field. T.J. Dunans also shined in his final game in Auburn Arena, scoring 16 points, grabbing five rebounds and posting four steals as the spearhead of Auburn’s full-court trap defense. Freshman Danjel Purifoy also scored in double digits, tallying 13 points while shooting 5 for 7.
"Dunans showed the impact he can have on a game with his four steals and some of the plays that he made," Pearl said. "You could tell the team fed off of him and felt good about the way he was playing with freedom."
Kevin Puryear led Missouri with 19 points and eight rebounds, despite going 4 of 14 from the field. Terrence Phillips also added 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting.
Missouri finishes the season in last place in the SEC for the second year in a row, with an overall record of 7-23 and a conference record of 2-16. The loss to Auburn Saturday afternoon makes it 35 straight road losses for the Missouri basketball team under Kim Anderson, dating back to January 2014. Auburn closes the season out sitting in 11th place in the conference with an overall record of 18-13, finishing 7-11 in SEC play. These two teams will meet for a third time in the opening round of the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday, March 8th. Tip time has yet to be determined, but the game will be broadcasted on the SEC Network.
"We know we play them again Wednesday and it's tough to beat any team three times," Pearl said. "There will be a lot to prepare for because we did a lot of things we thought we needed to do to win this game. We didn't hold a lot back."
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