Auburn suffers first loss of season to Hardaway's Tigers

The No. 11 Auburn men's basketball team was one of few undefeated teams in the country entering Saturday’s Holiday Hoopsgiving contest.

That streak came to an end with an 82-73 loss to the Memphis Tigers, who came into the game ranked No. 30 in KenPom. With the arena filled with a lot of orange, the Tigers couldn’t seem to string out a win in an atmosphere that was practically their home court.

“Memphis did a great job tonight. They played with great effort great energy," said head coach Bruce Pearl. "Their best players played great. We didn’t want to try to let their best players beat us, they did. It’s the first time the defense didn’t carry the day for us."

Auburn came into the game only allowing their opponents to score 58 points per game, as well as only 26% from beyond the arc. The Memphis Tigers exploited those numbers as they shot 50% from the field, as well as 30% from deep. 

Kendric Davis was Memphis’ leading scorer with 27 points, going 9-19 from the field and a perfect 7-7 on free throws. Pearl and his team could not seem to find an answer for him during the game. 

“We tried lots of guards on Davis, but he and Lomax controlled the tempo of the game," Pearl said.

Memphis seemed to keep a steady hand on their lead throughout the game, but when its head coach Penny Hardaway was asked what he believed to be the turning point in the game, he didn’t hesitate to point to the end of the first half. 

“I really thought the turning point was how we held on the last five minutes of the first half. Put KO out there, you know and Deandre being in foul trouble, Malcolm being in foul trouble, and we held on," Hardaway said. "That helped us keep that lead, and then in the second half we pushed it back out.” 

K.D. Johnson and Wendell Green Jr. were the two players for Auburn that contributed most to the score, both adding 14 points each. What seemed to go wrong for the Tigers were unforced turnovers and getting outscored in the paint 50-24. 

“The reason why they got so many points in the paint is they drove the ball to the basket. They drove it right around us, left around us," Pearl said. "They got to the rim, and they scored. We didn’t rotate very well, we weren’t very physical defensively, again we didn’t make them score to our chest."

Auburn went on a bit of a run late, as Memphis did not convert a single field goal with 4:47 left in the game. 

However, after Chris Moore missed a layup on a fast break, Pearl was called for a technical foul for arguing with the referees about an apparent missed foul call on Davis. 

With that call, Davis went on to shoot four free throws to seal Memphis the win, two for the technical foul and two for a personal foul on Wendell Green Jr. 

“It felt like a NCAA tournament game,” Hardaway said. 

Pearl's team had the less favorable outcome, but he echoed that sentiment and thanked the Auburn fans that were in attendance. 

“It was a great atmosphere. Our fans traveled; they did a great job. I apologize that we didn’t play better," Pearl said. "We’re looking forward to playing it next year.” 

Auburn's staff had worked to give the team a lengthy break during final exams, but the return to play did not go as desired. The Tigers will look to bounce back Wednesday as they play Georgia State on Wednesday at home in an 8 p.m. CST game.