Auburn was unable to contend with Georgia's physicality on Tuesday and fell to the Bulldogs 91-86.
The Tigers were trying to sweep the Bulldogs for only the fourth time in 37 years but were unable to match Georgia's speed and rebounding for a majority of the night.
“It’s hard, said head coach Bruce Pearl. "We were not ready to play. First time that’s happened this year."
Earlier in the week, Pearl said Tuesday's contest was going to be a track meet. In the first half, the only team seemingly running in the race was Georgia.
The Bulldogs shot 50% from the floor and 45.5% from beyond the arc in the first half. While Georgia shot 50% in the first half, Auburn shot 38.5% and was 1-of-7 from 3-point range.
Georgia may have only been up 39-30, but the deficit felt much larger.
“I feel like they outplayed us," said center Stretch Akingbola. "They outplayed us. They outrebounded us. I feel like that’s how they won the game."
After a low scoring first half, both teams came out firing in the second half.
In the first five minutes of the second half, Auburn and Georgia combined to score 40 points. The Tigers hit 9-of-10 to get things started in the second half, four of which were 3-pointers.
That may have put Auburn in a comfortable lead in another game, but during that same stretch, Georgia was 9-for-14 and kept the gap wide enough that Auburn never had a chance to close it.
“Very frustrating," Pearl said. "They were beating us with their dominant hands. We weren’t locked into the scouting report. So it was very, very frustrating."
After a rough outing in the first half, Auburn's offense finished strong as the Tigers had five players finish in double-digits.
Jamal Johnson dropped in 13 points, Sharife Cooper added 19, Jaylin Williams led all scorers with 21, Allen Flanigan finished with 12 and Devan Cambridge had 12.
In the first matchup between the teams, Auburn recorded 14 blocks in a 95-77 victory. In the rematch, Auburn only blocked seven.
The lack of presence inside hurt the Tigers as 57% of Georgia’s scoring came from the paint. The Bulldogs scored 52 points from inside compared to Auburn’s 34.
52 points in the paint are the most the Tigers have allowed since playing No. 1 Gonzaga in the second game of the year.
Rebounding was also an issue for the Tigers on both ends. The Bulldogs outrebounded the home team 40-32, including 13 offensive rebounds compared to Auburn’s seven.
“They’re older, and they played more physically than we did tonight," Pearl said. "(Toumani) Camara was really good tonight. He was a dominant player on the inside with 12 rebounds, and we didn’t have anybody on the inside that could play with him. And so we struggled. Our centers didn’t score at all. They didn’t get much opportunity. We got outplayed. We got outplayed in the paint whether it was the guards driving it or the bigs scoring it and rebounding it.”
Auburn (10-9, 4-6 SEC) will have three days to regroup before hosting Ole Miss (6-3, 1-1 SEC) on Saturday at 3 p.m. CST.
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