For the first time in his 10-season tenure at Auburn, Bruce Pearl saw his team start 0-1. The Tigers built a nine-point lead at halftime and led for 25:20 of game time, but surrendered a late 19-7 run and fell to No. 20 Baylor, 88-82, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
“We’re not pleased at all," Pearl said. "You have to win games when you have a lead like that."
The loss snapped a streak of 12 straight season-opening wins by the Tigers, with the last loss coming in the 2010-11 opener against UNC Asheville.
"We've got a chance to be okay. We've got a chance to be good, but it's a missed opportunity. This game is going to cost the SEC, it's going to hurt the SEC when it's Selection Sunday," Pearl said. "This game, it's going to hurt our league. We hurt our league tonight by losing this one. That team was picked third in the Big 12, we were picked sixth in the SEC. It's a missed opportunity."
Auburn’s offense was touted in the offseason as being much-improved from 3-point range. To that point, the Tigers connected on nine of their 19 3-point attempts, a 47.4% clip from behind the arc. Auburn made 31.5% of its 3-pointers in the 2022-23 season and its 3-point percentage Tuesday night was better than every game but two from last season. Baylor matched the Tigers exactly, also going 9-for-19 from behind the arc.
Freshman Aden Holloway, playing in his first game for the Tigers after missing the exhibition contest, was Auburn’s leading scorer with 19 points off the bench. Holloway was 6-of-15 from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the arc. Holloway also led Auburn with six assists, though he had three turnovers. Denver Jones went 3-for-5 from behind the arc, scoring 13 points.
As one freshman starred for the Tigers, another made his mark for the Bears. Guard Ja’Kobe Walter led all scorers with 28 points in 33 minutes of game time. Walter was 7-of-13 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range.
Another area of positivity for the Tigers was the rebounding battle. Auburn equaled Baylor with 38 boards. The Tigers also matched the Bears, traditionally one of the strongest offensive rebounding teams in college basketball, with 14 offensive rebounds.
"We tied them in threes. Rebounding was even. We had a better assist-to-turnover ratio," Pearl said. "They just lived at the foul line in the second half and scored 54 points."
Johni Broome led the Tigers with 11 boards, five of which came on the offensive end. Broome added 16 points, giving him a double-double. The depth of the Tigers showed in the game as 39 of Auburn’s points came from its bench, led by Holloway’s 19, compared to 43 from the starters.
Baylor got out to an early 17-11 lead in the first half, but Auburn outscored the Bears 32-17 over the final 12:21 of the half to take a nine-point lead into the halftime break.
The Tigers maintained the lead throughout the first 17 minutes of the second half, but could not pull away from the Bears. From the 14:29 mark to the 3:38 mark of the half, the Tigers’ advantage stayed between three and six points. Auburn’s inability to separate itself despite opportunities came back to haunt the Tigers.
In the final six minutes of the game, as Baylor went on its game-winning run, Auburn turned the ball over four times and went just 3-of-11 from the field. In that time, Baylor went 4-of-7 from the field and went 10-of-13 at the free-throw line. The Bears scored 19 of the game’s final 26 points to steal the win from Auburn.
Each team turned the ball over 15 times, but 10 of Auburn’s miscues were live-ball turnovers, compared to just five of Baylor’s. Though Baylor outscored Auburn just 18-16 in points off turnovers in the game, the Bears had 12 points off turnovers in the second half, while Auburn had just two. Seven of Auburn’s eight turnovers in the second half were live-ball steals.
The point guards, Tre Donaldson and Holloway, combined to turn the ball over seven times. Donaldson had four turnovers and Holloway had three.
"My point guards had seven turnovers tonight, between Tre and between Aden," Pearl said. "That’s way too many. We have to have a better assist-to-turnover ratio."
One of the biggest factors late in the game for Auburn was foul trouble. The officiating crew of Doug Sirmons, Pat Adams and Terry Oglesby whistled the Tigers for 32 fouls, 10 more than their opponent.
Auburn was called for 20 fouls in the second half, compared to 10 fouls in the same period for Baylor. In total, the crew called 54 fouls and awarded 59 free throws in the game.
"We fouled 32 times and had guys in foul trouble all game long," Pearl said. "Baylor went to the line 21 times in the second half. They were in the bonus after five minutes of basketball. ... It’s a high-level game, and too much of a foul fest."
By the end of the game, Broome had fouled out, receiving a sixth foul by way of a technical, with five other Tigers had four fouls. Baylor was awarded 34 free throws in the game, going 27-for-34 in those attempts. The Bears were led by Walter’s 10-for-10 mark from the foul line.
“We still scored 39 points in the second half," Pearl said. "Our second-half defense, having them in the bonus in five minutes of basketball in the second half, putting them on the foul line 21 times. We’ve got to do a better job of staying in front, a better job of moving our feet. I just thought — it’s a big game. It’s a big game. I just didn’t expect Baylor to go to the foul line 34 times.”
Auburn will play at Neville Arena for the first time this season on Friday when the Tigers host Southeastern Louisiana. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. CST and the game will be streamed live on the SEC Network+.
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Matthew is a senior from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @mattwallaceAU
