No. 20 Auburn boarded a jet headed to the desert Friday afternoon, hoping to bring a resume boosting victory back to the Plains.
No. 2 Arizona had other plans, as it took down the Tigers 97-68 on Saturday night, securing its fourth top-25 victory of the season.
“I told our guys it was going to take special to be able to come in here, compete with these guys, and ultimately find a way to win the game,” said head coach Steven Pearl. “We didn’t have special.”
Koa Peat led the way for Arizona with 18 points, as the Wildcats scored at will, shooting 61.2% from the field as a team. The Wildcats’ big men dominated, winning the points in the paint battle 60-24 and outrebounding Auburn 40-34. Motiejus Krivas finished with a team-high nine rebounds.
The Tigers jumped out to an early 15-10 lead courtesy of a 9-0 run, but that would turn out to be their only lead of the night. Arizona immediately responded with a 12-0 run and never looked back. Auburn went from the 9:24 to 3:22 mark in the first half without scoring, until Tahaad Pettiford ended the drought with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 39-24.
“We were executing our stuff, getting clean looks and doing what we needed to do defensively,” Pearl said. “Once they went on a run, we got away from a lot of things that we talked about.”
Auburn couldn’t find any offense all night, shooting 33.3% from the field and 24% from behind the arc as a unit. Keyshawn Hall had an off night finishing with 13 points on 27.2% shooting. The senior guard had been shooting 48.4% on the year coming into the game.
Pettiford once again had an outstanding offensive performance on the road. The veteran from the 2025 Final Four squad finished with 30 points on 52.6% shooting, with 15 points coming from beyond the 3-point line. Pettiford is the first Tiger to record a 30-point game since Johni Broome scored 34 points against No. 7 Alabama in last year’s regular season finale. The guard is now averaging 22.4 points per game away from Neville Arena.
“Great to see him make shots,” Pearl said. “It kept the game from getting even uglier. I’m glad his offense was rolling but I have really high expectations for him and the rest of our guards defensively.”
Even though there was so much roster turnover for the Tigers, coming off such a historic season, the expectations remain high. Tonight marked Auburn’s third loss of the season after finishing with just six last year. The good news for the Tigers is that Michigan and Arizona are emerging as favorites to head to Indianapolis for the Final Four, so all hope isn’t lost for this young team.
“I think there’s a pretty wide margin between Michigan, Arizona, and the rest of college basketball,” Pearl said. “In order for us to compete against this upper echelon we got to play Auburn basketball, which is fly around for 40 minutes and play with your hair on fire. We only did that in pockets tonight.”
Auburn will return to action next Saturday against Chattanooga. Tipoff in Atlanta’s State Farm Arena is set for 3:30 p.m. CST.
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Rory is a sophomore majoring in journalism sports production. He started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @RorymGarvin
