Auburn was able to pull out a tough win against Top 15 ranked Mizzou Tuesday evening. The Auburn Tigers were able to show off the type of team they can be when they get the looks that they want. Tuesday’s win was a showcase from the less lauded players of the team.
JT Thor, Chris Moore, and Babatunde “Stretch” Akingbola were main components of the big win. JT Thor was able to add 12 points, five boards, and four blocks from the starting lineup. With Chris Moore scoring 11 off the bench, and Stretch adding five blocks of his own to the defensive effort.
The usual characters also added their own production to the win. Sharife Cooper dropped 28 points, seven assists and eight boards while shooting 18-21 from the free throw line. Allen Flanigan was also able to drop 11 points and continues to show why he should be a top option for Auburn.
As a team overall, Auburn outplayed the Mizzou Tigers in almost every way. They led in every statistical category except steals and total turnovers, with Auburn having three more turnovers. Auburn was better from all places on the floor, and was able to get to the charity stripe nearly 20 more times than the 12th ranked Tigers. Auburn made sure to make every free throw count, making 81% of their shots, which ended up being a big reason for the win last night. Defensively Auburn was able to pickpocket Mizzou nine times, stuffed them 14 and held the team overall sub-40% from the field and at 24% from three.
Auburn has a tough schedule coming up, playing second ranked Baylor at Meyer Arena this Saturday, then moving onto another stretch of SEC games. Based on how well Auburn played as a team on Tuesday is a good sign for what is to come. There is still a lot of work that must be done to consolidate how many star players Auburn has to feed on the court at once, but if the coaches have learned anything from this Mizzou game it is that forming a coherent two-way game for these Tigers is more than possible.
