Auburn has been riding high for the last week. The triumphant debut of Sharife Cooper saw the Tigers put together a 2-1 record in 3 games, notching their first two wins in conference play. Wednesday was Auburn's chance to avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Early in the game, Auburn looked to be clicking in a crucial road game, riding a wave of made shots to a 12-point lead at the break. But Arkansas came out firing in the 2nd half, taking the lead in the first seven minutes on the back of an 18-4 run. It was a lead the Razorbacks never relinquished on their way to a 75-73 win.
“I think you can learn from winning as easily as you can learn from losing… so we’ll learn, but we’ll learn the hard way,” said Bruce Pearl of his Auburn team falling to 2-5 in conference play. He lamented the effect that Arkansas’ adjustments had on his team in the second half.
“Arkansas turned up the pressure… it shouldn’t have bothered us, but it did.”
Last time against Arkansas, the Tigers turned the ball over 19 times. This time around, they coughed up the ball 17 times. Overall, Auburn is turning the ball over 17.2 times per game, one of the worst marks in college basketball.
Still, Auburn actually turned the ball over less in the second half than the first—the difference was that Arkansas made the most of Auburn’s mistakes in the second frame. On the defensive end, foul trouble plagued some of Auburn’s key players late in the game, including Allen Flanigan and Jamal Johnson.
“Their foul trouble was definitely a factor,” said Coach Pearl. Having to tread carefully with important players down the stretch hampered the Tigers from reclaiming a lead, and by the time Auburn made some key plays to narrow the deficit, it was too late.
“We got too complacent, too comfortable” in the first half, said Sharife Cooper. Still, the Tigers kept fighting and brought the game down to the final possession. Cooper took the blame for failing to tie the score.
“I could’ve finished through the contact—I definitely want that one back.”
Cooper totaled 25 points, his third 20-point outing in four games wearing a Tigers uniform.
“From my standpoint, down [1 point] late, I probably should’ve let Sharife go quicker than that…” said Bruce Pearl, “That’s on me, I cost us a possession late.”
The loss was disappointing, as Cooper stressed how much the team wanted to leave Fayetteville with a win. When asked what was next for his team, Cooper said the Tigers were “getting ready for South Carolina and getting our heads focused on them.”
The Tigers (8-7, 2-5 SEC) will take another road trip to play the Gamecocks (3-4, 1-2 SEC) at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
