Following two straight road losses in the past week, Auburn men’s basketball fell to the No. 16 ranking in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll after spending the last week as the nation’s No. 8 team.
The two losses came both in “Quad One” opportunities, a game against a top 75 team in the NCAA’s NET metric on the road. The Tigers – still without a quad one victory – dropped to the No. 9 overall team in the metric rankings after the two losses.
This past Wednesday, Auburn couldn’t overcome a 14-point deficit at the half and fell to arch-rival Alabama 79-75 – ending an 11-game win streak. The Tigers weren’t able to limit the Tide’s deep threat with Alabama hitting 11 3-pointers compared to Auburn’s five.
The Tigers couldn’t seem to get a consistent offense going against the Bulldog’s notable defense and fell in a second straight road game 64-58. Mississippi State was able to outrebound Auburn 45-30 and hold the Tigers to a season-worse 34% from the field.
Auburn is the third-highest ranked team in the SEC with No. 5 Tennessee and No. 10 Kentucky ahead of the Tigers. Following the win over Auburn and LSU this past week, Alabama re-entered the poll this week at No. 24.
This week, Auburn will host the Vanderbilt Commodores inside of Neville Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. CST on the SEC Network before traveling to Oxford, Mississippi, to take on the Ole Miss Rebels – who received 30 votes in the most recent AP poll – on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 5 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
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Patrick is a sophomore from Auburn, Alabama, double majoring in journalism and marketing. He started with The Plainsman in fall 2022.
