It should come as no surprise that No. 14 Auburn, which which relies heavily on the deep ball for its offensive production, shoots better inside Auburn Arena than anywhere else. What should trouble Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl is the drop-off that occurs when the Tigers hit the road.
Auburn, which went 15-1 at home last season and are 9-0 so far in Auburn Arena this season, has been prone to slow starts on the road in Pearl's tenure, and this year has been no different.
The Tigers have three losses this year, two of which have been true road losses and the other coming at the hands of No. 1 Duke in the Maui Invitational. In those three losses, Auburn shot 30-of-96 (31.25 percent) from 3-point land, and their worst performance came at N.C. State where the Tigers only managed to make 5 of 25 from deep.
Pearl acknowledged his team’s struggles on the road, saying it is to be expected this early in conference play.
“I’d say a couple of things. You did have a different basketball,” Pearl said of the difficulties of playing on the road. “You play with a Nike ball or an Adidas ball, like we will at Texas A&M. The feel, the friendly confines of the rim and different things like that. It’s typical that teams will shoot better at home than on the road.”
No. 14 Auburn (12-3, 1-1 SEC) dropped three spots in the AP poll this week after opening conference play with a loss at Ole Miss Wednesday night before bouncing back to defeat Georgia at home on Saturday. Its next road test comes Wednesday in College Station against Texas A&M, which has won nine out of the last 11 against the Tigers. Auburn’s last win against the Aggies came in the 2015 SEC Tournament.
Part of the grind nowadays, Pearl said in his press conference Monday, is getting his team prepared for one game at a time because of how tough the conference is getting.
“They’ve had their way with us over the last few years,” Pearl said. “Looking at where the league is at now after a couple of weeks, you see five teams that are ranked and eight teams that are either ranked or getting votes. The road teams have had some success, so I think it’s at a point where it’s just really competitive.
"If you look at the teams that are at the bottom right now, they’ve either beaten or been right there with some of the teams that are at the top of the league. Some of the teams that are at the bottom during the non-conference are now up at the top. It’s just been really competitive.”
TJ Starks, who is coming off a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to beat Alabama in Coleman Coliseum, is the focal point and leading scorer for Texas A&M. Starks helped lead the Aggies last year as a freshman and averages 14.4 points per game while Savion Flagg is second on the team with 12.9 per game.
Texas A&M was Auburn’s lone home loss in the 2018 season, defeating the Tigers by one in the regular season before eventually knocking off Providence and North Carolina in the 2018 NCAA Tournament to advance the Sweet 16.
“I think with Texas A&M, it starts with TJ Starks and Savion Flagg,” Pearl said. “Starks and Flagg are a huge part of their run. Going into the SEC Tournament, and after they beat Providence and North Carolina, there was a lot of talk that they could be a Final Four team.”
Pearl hopes that their energy and momentum from Saturday’s win over Georgia will start translating on the road as conference play moves forward.
"They’re a very good rebounding team this year, second in the league,” Pearl said. “I think for us, we want to go on the road and play better. We want to handle the ball better and not turn the ball over as much. We’re going to play with the same effort, energy and confidence that we do at home. From that standpoint, it’s a great opportunity for us.”
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