Missouri rolls past Auburn in 84-74 win

After taking down John Calipari and No. 15 Arkansas last weekend, Auburn headed to Columbia, Missouri, hoping to earn a midweek victory.

However, Missouri’s lights-out shooting proved too much to overcome, as Auburn fell 84-74 on Wednesday night.

“We probably lost this game before we even got here. We didn’t have great body language today,” Auburn head coach Steven Pearl said on Auburn radio. “We’ve got to figure out why that is.”

Kevin Overton and Elyjah Freeman led the way for Auburn with 13 points apiece. The duo combined to shoot 44.4% from the field and accounted for five 3-pointers.

A little more than halfway through the first half, Auburn held an 18-15 lead, but it proved to be their last advantage of the game. Missouri took control after halftime, shooting 66.7% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc in the second half.

“It’s just a mindset thing,” Pearl said on Missouri’s offensive turnaround after a slow start. “In the second half, they just did a better job of attacking the rim, and we just had a ton of bad breakdowns.” 

Compared to their last game, it looked like a whole different Auburn squad out on the floor at Mizzou Arena. Pearl’s squad shot only 40.7% from the field tonight after shooting 56.7% last Saturday. 

“We have to be excited to play every single night and play with the effort and energy that we had against Arkansas,” Pearl said. “We didn’t have that same fire and energy before the game today.” 

Jayden Stone led Missouri with 22 points. The senior shot 70% from the field.

Sophomore guard Tahaad Pettiford struggled, finishing with nine points on 25% shooting while adding two assists.

“Tahaad’s our point guard. In 31 minutes, he has to have more than two assists,” Pearl said.

Auburn will look to avoid falling to 1-4 in SEC play Saturday against South Carolina. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. CST.