Auburn is off to a hot start this season with a 12-3 record while avoiding multiple losses in the same month.
The first loss of the season came early during the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, with a late-game stretch against then-No. 1 Duke before losing 78-72. In the loss, Auburn would post its second-highest scoring total away from home while shooting 36 percent from the floor.
This would hold as Auburn's lone loss until the team's first true road game against N.C. State, where the Tigers would shoot 20 percent from three and fall 78-71 to the Wolfpack. Complementing the team's struggles beyond the arc, Auburn would also give up 20 turnovers and shoot just 12 times from the free-throw line.
Again, the Tigers would bounce back after a loss and would go into their next road game with a conference opener at Oxford on a two-game winning streak. With the Rebels matching its win total of 12 from the previous season, Auburn would shoot 32 percent from the field in a 15-point loss.
Despite winning against UAB in Birmingham at the Mark Slive Invitational prior to the loss in Raleigh, North Carolina, Auburn would shoot 18.2 percent from three and 38.6 percent from the floor before rolling away in overtime. The Tigers would post two players in double-digit scoring, with Jared Harper taking the load with a game-high 31 points.
In the losses, the Tigers were well below their season averages. In its true road games, Auburn has averaged 40.3 percent from the field, 29.7 percent from three, 51.7 percent from the line and a total of 69 points per game. The averages for the season, however, are 40.3 percent, 35.7 percent, 67.2 percent, and 84, respectively.
While previewing the team's trip to College Station, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said that it was normal for a team to have difficulties with shooting on the road.
“I’d say a couple of things. You did have a different basketball,” Pearl said. “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.”
There is still plenty of time for Auburn to turn the tide on the road, and it will look to begin with a conference win Wednesday night.
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