Auburn fell to the No. 2-ranked Baylor Bears on Saturday as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. It was always going to be a difficult task to bring down the last remaining unbeaten team in the Power 5, and though the Tigers fought to the end, they couldn’t quite keep pace with the Bears and lost by a 12-point margin.
Auburn has now played both of the top two teams in the country, a feat that just one other team can claim. When asked what it means for such a young squad to play against such high-caliber competition, Coach Pearl said his team was “improving, but we’re not where we want to be or where I want us.”
Coming into the game, Bruce said he stressed that Auburn needed to control the three-point line if it wanted to win, and the Tigers were simply unable to do so. As a team Auburn hit just 6 of 25 shots from beyond the arc, and Baylor’s ability to make the shots that Auburn missed ultimately allowed the Bears to pull away.
“We told the team… if [Baylor] got their [three-pointers], we can’t win,” said Bruce Pearl. Although Auburn held Baylor to just four three-point field goals in the first half, the Bears sank seven shots from downtown in the second half. Overall, Baylor hit just 11 of 30 attempts from deep, fairly below its nation-leading 44% from beyond the arc.
On the other end, Auburn’s backcourt scorers struggled in Waco. Sharife Cooper and Allen Flanigan combined for a solid 26 points but made just 9 of their 30 total shots. They were also just 2 of 11 from 3-point range. Jaylin Williams and JT Thor were more successful from the floor, totaling 30 points on 19 combined shots.
Williams played at the center position for the game, where he scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Pearl praised Williams’ play, but felt “we didn’t take enough advantage of him” during the game. Still, Coach Pearl liked what he saw from Williams and Thor, who took over Williams’ usual spot at the power forward position.
Jaylin Williams said it was “really good for us” to get the chance to play the top two teams in the nation. “Next year, if we play a team like that again, we’re going to be ready for them.”
With the lessons of two games against top-tier competition in their back pocket, the Tigers will be looking ahead to the second half of their conference schedule. With one month left, the standings are very much still in flux. Though Auburn currently sits at eighth place, only two games separate them from being as high as second place.
Auburn will play both of its games next week at home in Auburn Arena, first versus Georgia on Tuesday and Ole Miss on Saturday. Both games will be huge for Auburn’s SEC position.
“The mentality is to win the next nine games, to try to finish first or second in the league,” said Williams. “It’s not going to be easy… so we’ll be ready.”
