No. 1 Auburn held off Arkansas on Wednesday night, defeating the Razorbacks 67-60 in a game that was close to the final seconds.
“Our guys competed,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. “They did not let the fact that we weren't making shots and playing well offensively affect their defense. Holding Arkansas to 60 points is significant.”
The Tigers finished the night shooting 40% from the field and 17% from deep, unable to hit a 3-pointer in the second half.
Arkansas came within three of the Tigers’ lead with 1:01 left to play at 63-60, but two made free throws by Chad Baker-Mazara extended Auburn’s lead to five points. Denver Jones then sank two more from the charity stripe to give Auburn a seven point lead with 13 seconds left to play.
The Razorbacks managed to take a one-point lead with 2:41 left to play, but Auburn would close out the final minutes of play holding the Razorbacks scoreless from the field.
Johni Broome led with 16 points, 13 rebounds and three assists, picking up his 16th double-double of the season. Chad Baker-Mazara finished with 15 points, and Chaney Johnson had 15 points and six rebounds.
Auburn struggled early in the first half, committing three consecutive turnovers just over two minutes into play that allowed Arkansas to take an early 9-7 lead. The Tigers are Razorbacks went back-and-forth much of the first half, and a 2:09 scoring drought gave Arkansas a 19-17 lead with 7:27 left to play in the first half.
The Tigers then went on a 11-0 run with 3:50 left to play in the first half. Auburn ended the first half with a 33-27 lead, shooting 12-for-31 from the field and 4-for-15 from three.
Auburn struggled to make shots in the second half, shooting 0-for-10 from behind the arc and 13-for-31 from the floor. The Tiger defense held the Razorbacks to 33 second half points on 48.1% shooting from the field and 20% shooting from three.
“We didn't let our lack of shooting the basketball affect us on the defensive end, which I thought was really, really important,” Pearl said. “I thought we got some clean looks and just did not make shots.”
The Tigers outrebounded Arkansas 42-29. Broome led with 13 rebounds, followed by Miles Kelly with 8 and Johnson with six. Auburn’s bench managed 33 points, while the Razorbacks’ only scored eight points off the bench.
“I thought we did have the advantage on the inside,” Pearl said. “I thought we could have scored more through the post than what we did. I don't think we took full advantage of that, but we did a nice job with our backside rebounding.”
Auburn moves to 12-1 in the SEC and will face the Georgia Bulldogs at home on Saturday, Feb. 22. Tipoff is set for 3:00 p.m. CST and will be televised on ESPN.
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Grace Heim is a senior from Enterprise, Alabama, majoring in Political Science. She started with The Plainsman in January of 2023.
You can follow her on X (Twitter) at @graceeheim
