Auburn (14-7, 3-5) will travel to Fayetteville on Sunday to take on Arkansas (16-7, 4-4). Auburn owns a six-game losing streak to the Razorbacks and has yet to win a road conference game so far this season.
Can the Tigers break the streak on Sunday? Trends would lead one to believe it’s possible. The Tigers are playing arguably the best basketball they have played during the Johnnie Harris era. They have already beaten top-10 LSU this season, and they trailed by only five points to South Carolina in their previous game.
"She has her talent; she has her defense," South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said after Thursday’s game. "She has a great coaching staff. Fred Williams coached me in the WNBA. She has players who believe in her system. It's not a fluke what's happening. You don't turn it around as she's turned it around in three years in our league in this day and age."
The caveat, however, was that both of those games were at home. The road has not been as kind to the Tigers. Auburn lost their first road conference game by 22 points, but since then they have lost their last two by three points each. In both games, they had opportunities to win late but could not convert.
On Sunday, Auburn will hope to capitalize on another big opportunity on the road in the SEC. Arkansas is coming off a 16-point home loss to Alabama, in which they gave up 86 points. It will be a strength-versus-strength matchup on Sunday. Auburn prides itself on defense, while Arkansas’s strength is on the offensive end.
The Razorbacks average 72.4 ppg in SEC play. Auburn, meanwhile, is holding its opponents to 63 points per game in conference play. On the flip side, Auburn’s offense is only averaging 60.3 ppg in SEC play, while Arkansas’s defense is holding opponents to 68.1 ppg.
If the game ends up higher scoring, it certainly favors the Razorbacks, but Auburn has shown signs of an offense that can put up points if needed. It begins and ends with Honesty Scott-Grayson on the offensive end for Auburn. Scott-Grayson averages 17 ppg this season. She is coming off of a strong showing against South Carolina this past Thursday.
"I was probably one of the smallest on the floor,” Scott-Grayson said after the South Carolina game. “Taking my shots when I had them, and when I saw that opening to drive, I took advantage of every opportunity.”
Although Auburn has shown the ability to score at a high level, they would feel much more comfortable in defensive battles. Arkansas has only won one game in conference play in which it scored less than 70 points. If the Tigers can hold the Razorbacks below that margin, they’ll have a great chance of pulling off the win.
Multiple streaks are on the line on Sunday, and Auburn hopes to break both. It will take a strong performance, but if any Auburn team in recent history is capable, it is certainly this one.
The game will tip off at 5 p.m. Sunday evening on the SEC Network.
