AUBURN, Ala. — No. 2 Auburn (12-1) hosts Missouri (11-2) on Saturday afternoon inside Neville Arena to open SEC play. Auburn finished non-conference play as arguably the best team in the country, but the SEC schedule will present new challenges for Auburn starting with Missouri.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. “All 16 SEC teams have performed tremendously in non-conference. All 16 teams have double-digit wins, and we have the only three teams in America that are undefeated and that’s Oklahoma, Florida, and Tennessee. I’ve just never seen anything like it.”
The challenge of SEC play begins with a Missouri team that has improved much from a season ago. The Tigers lost every SEC game a season ago and will be hungry to flip the script this year.
“A team like Missouri is hungry,” Pearl said. “Missouri is looking for their first conference win in a while.”
Missouri has already picked up one marquee win this season and will look for another against Auburn. Missouri defeated Kansas earlier in the year. The Tigers also came within three points of beating Illinois and eight of Memphis.
Missouri is a balanced team with eleven different guys playing double-digit minutes so far this season along with four different players averaging double-digits. The two biggest strengths of the Tigers lie in their ability to get to the foul line and force turnovers.
“They go to the foul line,” Pearl said. “They do a great job of drawing fouls, and they do a great job of driving to the basket and attacking closeouts.”
Missouri ranks second in the country in free throws attempted per game at 29.2 and first in the country in free throws made per game at 21.2. Auburn focused on defending without fouling after struggles last season and has improved, but Missouri will test the limit. Auburn currently ranks 181st in opponent free throws per game with 19.5.
“One of the things we’ve done better this year is we are defending aggressively without fouling,” Pearl said. “There’s a noticeable difference in us not bailing out our opponent and putting them on the line. That’s going to be challenged tomorrow.”
On the defensive side, Missouri forces 16 turnovers per game — good for 15th in the country. The matchup pits strength versus strength as Auburn leads the country in turnovers per game with only 8.8. Auburn will need to maintain that trend to beat Missouri.
Saturday’s game begins what is likely the toughest SEC slate in the history of Auburn basketball. Auburn hopes to make another run at an SEC Championship and it starts with Missouri.
The tip-off between Auburn and Missouri is set for 3:00 PM inside Neville Arena. The game will air on the Auburn Sports Network and SEC Network.
