Observations: Arkansas 75, Auburn 73

For the first 15 or so minutes, it looked like Auburn was going to get its best win of the season. But the Tigers didn't handle all that early success well at all.

PG Sharife Cooper (Walt Beazley/Arkansas Athletics)

Before getting on the plane to Fayetteville, Bruce Pearl said Auburn would have to play some of its best basketball on the season in order to beat Arkansas on the road.

For the first 15 or so minutes Wednesday night, it looked like Auburn was doing just that. The Tigers led by 19 points with 4:17 left to go in the first half. Arkansas missed 17 of its first 21 shots, a far cry from the offense that scored 97 points on Auburn in the SEC opener.

But that lead was gone less than 10 minutes of game time later. Arkansas took the lead with 12:08 left, and Auburn never led again — even though it clawed back from an eight-point hole with 2:40 remaining and had two chances at a game-winner.

“Disappointing loss,” Pearl said afterwards. “Kind of let one get away.”

Here are four Observations, the Rotation Chart and Nerd Stats from how the Tigers gained a big lead, lost it and came a whistle away from potentially walking out of Bud Walton Arena with a…