AUBURN, Ala. - The No. 1 Auburn Tigers (24-2, 12-1) continued in their winning ways Wednesday evening, taking down the Arkansas Razorbacks (15-11, 4-9) 67-60 in a back-and-forth matchup in which neither team shot the ball well.
Missed shots seemed to be the story for both sides, but it plagued Arkansas particularly. A player who was discussed in depth before the game as a key for the Razorbacks was almost a total non-factor, as Zvonimir Ivisic ended the game 0-10 from the field and 0-9 from long range.
Arkansas as a team shot just 3-19 from three and missed half of their 14 free throws. What seemed to be a common theme for John Calipari’s Razorbacks displayed itself again, as they were unable to close out a game in which they had a legitimate chance to win. After going up by one with 3:06 to go, Arkansas failed to get another bucket, leading to a 10-2 Tiger run to close the game.
“That’s why they’re the number one team, and that’s why we have the record that we have,” said Calipari. “We don’t finish them off. That’s what makes them the number-one team in the country. They made the plays and they made their free throws.”
The Tigers came up big from the free throw line again, something that has continued to be the case throughout the gauntlet of the SEC slate. Denver Jones hit two and Chad Baker-Mazara hit four in the final minute to ice the game and put any thoughts of a Razorback comeback to rest.
While the free throws at the end of the game from Baker-Mazara were the most important, one of his foul shots in the first half made history. The senior guard from the Dominican Republic scored his 1,000th career point at the charity stripe.
“It was pretty fun,” said Baker-Mazara on receiving recognition for his milestone. “I couldn’t get mine in high school so it was a goal of mine to come and get it in college. It was pretty cool because my first point in college was a free throw and my 1,000th point was a free throw.”
Auburn weathered a few long scoring droughts throughout the contest, but never allowed their sluggish shooting to turn into a big Arkansas lead. After an extended period of time in the second half where shots weren’t falling, Chaney Johnson took over and scored 10 straight for the Tigers. He would end the game with 14 points and six rebounds.
With the regular season approaching its conclusion and the National Player of the Year race heating up, Johni Broome continued to make his case for the award. Broome led all players in scoring with 16 points while adding 13 boards to add another double-double to his resume.
“You see what kind of numbers he puts up. He’s one of the best players on the best team in the country,” said Johnson on his frontcourt counterpart. “He had another dominant night…a double-double is normal for him. It’s a testament to the work he puts in and how confident he is in himself. That’s the player of the year.”
Although Auburn shot 25-62 and made just four triples, the defensive effort was enough to put them over the top of a tough Calipari team. The Tigers will hope to shake off the shooting woes and build on what is now a two-game lead in the SEC. Four ranked teams feature in Auburn’s final five games.
The first of those five comes on Saturday afternoon when the Georgia Bulldogs visit Neville Arena to wrap up their home-and-home series with the Tigers. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. CT with TV coverage from ESPN and radio coverage on the Auburn Sports Network.
