Auburn gets their first SEC victory at home in front of a packed Neville Arena atmosphere in dominant fashion by a score of 95-73. The Tigers went into the game an underdog as they came in unranked seeking their first conference win while the top 15 Razorbacks were undefeated in conference play. The doubt towards the Tigers certainly fueled them as they played with an energy unseen so far this season as they took a lead early and further poured it on as the game continued.
The Tigers played tremendous all-around basketball early shooting 58 percent from the field and getting 30 points in the paint in just the first half of the game. They also got lots of help from their bench with 16 of their 49 points coming from them. The Tigers would match that first half with another great half of basketball finishing the game shooting 57 percent and getting 48 points in the paint while out-rebounding and out-shooting the Razorbacks.
“You go up and down the lineup they all played well,” Arkansas head coach John Calipari said about Auburn’s team effort, “ I don’t think they had a guy play bad.”
During the early portion of the game the charge was yet again led by star Keyshawn Hall who energized the Auburn crowd with two quick 3-pointers. The packed house in Neville Arena used this momentum for the rest of the night being an extra loud source of energy for the underdog Tigers squad.
Auburn took a commanding lead over the 15th
ranked Razorbacks into the half with some major excitement and seemingly newfound confidence. The Tigers were not only up by 15 points 49-34 but also outrebounding Arkansas by major margin of 22 to their 12. The leading scorer in the first half to no surprise was Hall who had 18 points, but he was followed behind by some surprising names in Elijah Freeman with nine and Filip Jović with seven.
Halfway through the second half the Tigers lead had ballooned to 21 points and the Razorbacks got a rebound following one of their missed free throws but when they tried to put back a mid-range shot it was emphatically blocked by none other than Hall. The Tigers would get back-to-back threes from Blake Muschalek and Kevin Overton to make get them to a ridiculous 25-point lead causing Arkansas head coach John Calipari to call a timeout. This sequence would seem to be the final blow as the Auburn squad would coast with a victory throughout the rest of the game continuing to play physical and hit key shots keeping their distance with a comfortable 20-point lead.
“The challenge now is, you know, we got to do that every night,” Auburn head coach Steven Pearl said regarding their performance, “because you’ve seen what it looks like when you don’t do it.”
Auburn will hope to take this decisive victory that they now have under their belt and use it as further encouragement as they look for yet another conference victory as they go to Columbia Missouri to take on the Tigers on Wednesday January 14th at 6:00 C.S.T.
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Reid is a sophomore majoring in accounting. He joined the Plainsman in the fall of 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @ReidFarris2
