Auburn hosts Missouri in 'biggest game of the year' for Tigers

In what head coach Bruce Pearl called a “must-win” for Auburn, the Tigers will host Missouri, against whom it has won two straight games by a combined seven points. It is a game that Pearl believes could be crucial for Auburn if it is to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

“They're all big, but I think this is the biggest game of the year for us this year,” Pearl said.

Both teams come into the game with equal 7-5 marks in conference play, which, along with Kentucky, places them in a three-way tie for fourth place in the SEC, competing for the last double-bye in the SEC Tournament. Just three games separate the third-place team, Tennessee, from the 10th-place teams, Georgia and Mississippi State, in the SEC standings.

For the first time this season, Auburn did not receive a single vote in this week’s AP Poll, while Missouri was the first team out of the poll, receiving 114 votes and sitting 26th in the nation — three away from inclusion in the rankings.

Auburn comes into the game having lost five of its last six games, including its last three. The three latest losses — road losses at No. 10 Tennessee and Texas A&M and a home loss to No. 1 Alabama — have come by a combined 16 points, an average margin over just over five points per loss.

The visiting Tigers from Columbia, Mo., have won their last two, a home win over South Carolina and a road win over Tennessee, in which DeAndre Gholston made the winning 3-pointer as time expired.

Missouri has the No. 13 scoring offense in the nation and is second in the SEC behind Alabama, averaging 82.1 points per game. The Tigers rank 18th nationally in 3-pointers per game making an average of 9.6 shots per game behind the arc, second in the conference — again behind Alabama.

“They just went to Tennessee, beat Tennessee and scored 86 at Tennessee,” Pearl said. “We scored 43. You do the math. This is a really, really good offensive team, really hard to guard team.”

Missouri goes to the free-throw line an average of 19 times per game, converting over 75% of those attempts. Recently, Auburn has struggled to get stops without fouling. The Tigers have sent their last three opponents to the foul line a combined 79 times — a trend Pearl hopes to correct.

“The issue with fouling would be, look, Alabama's a tough cover. They're tough getting downhill. Texas A&M, obviously, was a tough cover,” Pearl said. “They shot 39 free throws. Alabama shot 17 in the second half. It's just hard to win. That would be 34 for the game. It's just hard to win. We have to compete to stay in front without fouling.”

Missouri has a wealth of experience on its roster, starting four seniors and one junior. According to KenPom, the Tigers are the most experienced team in the SEC and the 16th-most experienced team in the nation.

“This is a great experienced team that we are going to play in the Missouri Tigers,” said Auburn forward Chris Moore. “They have a lot of older guys so we kind of know going in that they are going to have the same mentality, the never say never mentality.”

Senior forward Kobe Brown leads the visiting Tigers and is second in the SEC, making 57% of his shots. Brown leads Missouri in scoring, averaging 16.5 points per game, and rebounding, with 6.1 per game. He scored 21 in Missouri’s win over the Volunteers on Saturday.

“(Brown) has a very quick trigger for somebody with size,” Moore said. “That's something that's always helped him in his game, and I feel like we've just got to key in, like we've been doing with a lot of key matchups lately. Just key in and just follow our scout.” 

Auburn has an 11-2 record at home this season, though it has lost two of its last three, while Missouri is 3-4 in road games this season, with its win over Tennessee being its only true road win over a team in the top 125 of the NET rankings. 

As Auburn begins its six-game sprint to the end of the regular season, tip-off for its game against Missouri will be at 6 p.m. CST from Neville Arena for a national broadcast on ESPN2.