Film Room: What went wrong for Auburn on all those OU 3-pointers

Auburn's rough 3-point defense hit a new low at Oklahoma, and the Tigers have only themselves to blame for the majority of those makes.

From Justin: Since I spent most of my Wednesday traveling back from Oklahoma, I had not planned on putting anything out on this Thursday and doubling up with a mailbag and a podcast Friday.

But then Observer hoops contributor Henry Patton texted me with an idea to go back through all the 3-pointers Auburn faced Tuesday night.

As a bonus piece for this week, here’s his breakdown of what went wrong for the Tigers in their biggest problem area this season in what was another frustrating loss.

Fair warning: It’s not for the faint of heart. Sicko territory.

(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)

Even the most pessimistic of fans couldn’t have predicted before the season that Auburn’s defense would struggle this much.

Following its 91-79 loss to Oklahoma in Norman on Tuesday, the Tigers dropped to 112th nationally in KenPom’s opponent-adjusted defensive rating, while its raw defensive rating sits at 304th.

Following the Sooners’ blistering 13-of-19 performance from beyond the arc, Auburn is now allowing teams to shoot 40.6% from deep in conference play. For the season, it’s allowing teams to shoot 37.1%, which is 337th nationally out of 365 total teams.

Not only is that mark dead last in the SEC, but the gap between Auburn and LSU — the team one spot ahead of Auburn in that category — is bigger than the gap between LSU and Georgia, which is four spots ahead in this stat category.

Why do teams keep lighting the nets on fire from downtown against Auburn? Let’s take a look at every shot the Sooners took from beyond the arc on Tuesday night.

---

First attempt

As Steven Pearl explained after the game, there’s no mystery behind this opening possession 3-pointer from Nijel Pack. Tahaad Pettiford simply falls here after contact on a switch with Kevin Overton, and Pack takes full advantage.

So, to start, let’s pull some first-possession stats from Auburn’s 14 conference games.

In conference play, Auburn has allowed the opposing team to score on its opening possession nine times — including six times in its last seven games. Auburn has given up a 3-pointer on the opening possession five times in the last nine games alone.

This pans out to an average of 1.64 points allowed per opening possession in SEC play. In the last seven games, that number jumps to 2.29. Additionally, in those seven games, only Arkansas failed to score on its opening possession.

“It’s like the sixth game, almost in a row, where we’ve just had a defensive mistake and they make a shot,” Pearl said after the loss to Oklahoma.

Second attempt

Auburn ices the side pick-and-roll being run by Xzayvier Brown, who is a right-handed player. But Brown is able to hit Mohamed Wague off the short roll — something it went to constantly in the first half to great success.