Observations: Auburn 67, Arkansas 60
It ain't always elite offense and red-hot shooting for these top-ranked Tigers. But, yet again, they've found ways to win without all that.
(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)
AUBURN — Call it the art of being comfortable at being uncomfortable.
There was a mixture of groans and semi-stunned silence late Wednesday night at Neville Arena, a place that’s usually in blow-your-eardrums-out celebration mode around this time.
Chad Baker-Mazara had thrown an errant pass that wound up in the hands of Arkansas’ Johnell Davis and turned into a layup on the other end of the floor.
With 3:06 left on the clock, Auburn was trailing. The Tigers hadn’t been down since there was a little more than six minutes to go in the first half, when they went on a 11-0 run that grew into a 16-4 advantage to take control of the game.
But Baker-Mazara wasn’t bothered, even if he should have been. On the next possession, he took his matchup down the left baseline and made an acrobatic finish with his non-dominant right hand to give Auburn the lead.
Then Johni Broome, the National Player of the Year contender, took over. He corralled a Davis miss on the other end to give Auburn a huge defensive stop. Then, after a turnaround post jumper from Chaney Johnson clanged off the rim, Broome tipped it back up in the air and watched it bounce its way through the net.
After a timeout, Arkansas drew up a play to get 7-foot-2 center Zvonimir Ivišić, its best outside shooter, a look from deep. Like so many shots in this game, Ivišić’s attempt didn’t go down. Miles Kelly secured the rebound, and Baker-Mazara drew a shooting foul on the ensuing possession.
Baker-Mazara hit both free throws to put Auburn up by five, and he would do the same thing a minute later. After his turnover led to an Arkansas lead, he more than made up for it with his execution in the clutch.
“Coach really emphasizes a lot that whenever you make a mistake — or if you do something good — it's the next play,” Baker-Mazara said. “I can't let one play determine the next couple of plays that I have. I just wiped it off and moved on.”
As a team, Auburn got plenty of practice at responding to its own mistakes in a 67-60 win over Arkansas on Wednesday night.
Auburn had 12 turnovers, the most in a home game since the SEC opener against a red-hot Missouri team that did the conference leaders a favor Wednesday night.
The Tigers also shot 40% from the field and 16.7% from deep. Auburn went 0-10 on 3-pointers in the second half, which was a surprising performance after ripping the nets with regularity in a historic 1 vs. 2 win over Alabama four days earlier.
“Our offense left a lot to be desired tonight,” Bruce Pearl said afterwards. “Our execution wasn't very good. I don't think our shot selection was great. When you only have 11 assists and 12 turnovers — I don't think we shared it as well as we have been.”
But the truly remarkable thing about this Auburn basketball team is that, even though it has one of the most efficient offenses in the modern era this season, it’s now won all four times it’s been held to 70 points or less. Last season, it was 1-4 in such games.
These Tigers can win ugly. The road wins without Broome over South Carolina and Georgia were proof. The last-minute victory against Tennessee was even more proof. And now, by beating Arkansas on Wednesday night, Auburn has now won a third of its conference-leading 12 victories like this.
The low-scoring grind-fests might mean much more stress for the fans in the stands and those watching along at home, but it doesn’t seem to bother this crew of workers.
“Shots aren't always going to fall,” Johnson said. “I mean, being on the glass is effort. Being able to stay in front of your defender is effort. When shots are not falling, we're still able to give good effort. That keeps us in the game… and it allows us to win games.”
Arkansas head coach John Calipari, a longtime rival of both Pearl and Auburn, laid it out the best in his postgame press conference: The reason why the Tigers are No. 1 in the country and the reason why his Razorbacks are 4-9 in the SEC are the exact same.
“We don’t finish people off,” Calipari said. “They do. … You don't have to make shots. But you have to fight.”
Auburn will continue to fight, now armed with an even bigger lead in the race for the championship of the single-toughest conference in the modern era, because of what it did in the final minutes Wednesday night.
There will be plenty to learn and correct, especially on offense. But there’s a big difference in doing that with a two-game solo advantage in the SEC and doing that after a tough Quad 2 loss.
“I just thought our guys stepped up and made plays,” Pearl said. “And to hold Arkansas to 60 points is why we won the basketball game, why we're still in position to win a championship — because these guys sat down and guarded.”
Here are four Observations from Auburn’s 67-60 win over Arkansas, along with the Rotation Charts, Nerd Stats and the Quote of the Night.