After No. 17 Auburn’s 78-75 loss at home to Texas A&M on Wednesday, the sun still came up the next morning on an albeit cold and rainy day.
The loss prevented Auburn from finishing the season undefeated inside Auburn Arena, something that has only been done twice in program history.
While the sun may have come up on Thursday and a new day began, Bruce Pearl was still thinking about the loss.
“Still stinging from last night," Pearl said Thursday. "We scored 10 points above what Texas A&M averages, 75 should’ve been enough but we gave them 13 above what they average. They made plays and made shots; their post offense was better than our post defense.”
Pearl also pointed out that during his film session, he realized that one of Texas A&M’s offensive sets gave Auburn trouble defensively which he failed to adjust during the game.
“They had one offensive set that bothered us that I did not adjust to and it wasn’t until after I watched film where I looked at myself and said ‘this would’ve been the way to cover that’ and we did not get that,” Pearl said. “We could have probably helped our team three or four possessions. So, Texas A&M scoring 78 points is a lot of points for them.”
Texas A&M’s 78 points are its third-highest against SEC competition this season, and with the win it improved to 5-0 all-time inside Auburn Arena. Auburn’s loss to A&M is the second time that the Aggies have beaten Auburn on Senior Night.
The Tigers have little time to reflect on the loss before heading to Knoxville for the regular-season finale against Tennessee. While the Tigers have struggled lately with two straight losses, Tennessee has been surging with wins against Florida at home and a road win against Kentucky.
"It's going to be another game where we're going to have to be elite defensively because they are so good defensively," Pearl said. "We've been inconsistent at times with our offense. We were able to score against Texas A&M because they pressed us. We were able to score out of space, which was good to be able to do that. But we're going to have to work really hard to execute."
A win against the Volunteers on Saturday not only gives Auburn confidence heading into the SEC Tournament, but also potentially helps with SEC Tournament seeding.
As it stands currently, Auburn is tied with LSU and Florida at 11-6 in the SEC with all three fighting for seeding in the SEC Tournament. Auburn is currently the 3-seed heading into the SEC Tournament and can finish as high as the 2-seed or as low as the 4-seed.
Auburn (24-6, 11-6 in SEC) travels to Knoxville for a meeting with Tennessee (17-13, 9-8 in SEC) on Saturday at 11 a.m. CST. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
