Observations: Houston 73, Auburn 72
Even with all the newness, the Tigers almost pulled off what would have been their second upset of No. 1 ever. But that's what they expected.
BIRMINGHAM — Auburn was not expected to beat Houston on Sunday — not by Vegas, not by analytics, not by rankings, not by college basketball experts and probably not by any fan outside of the most diehard of orange-and-blue bleeders.
But there was a major exception, though, and it was sitting in the home team locker room at Legacy Arena.
“We expected to win the game,” Auburn head coach Steven Pearl said after a 73-72 loss on Sunday. “Moral victories are for losers. So don’t ask me a question if I feel... no, I don’t. Because I told our guys I thought we were the better team. I have elite confidence in this group.”
That message was delivered over and over again during the practices leading up to Auburn’s matchup against No. 1 Houston. It didn’t matter that the Tigers had only one returning contributor and the Cougars — the most consistent powerhouse in the sport for the better part of the last decade — had several. This was a game to take.
So if you were among the many surprised Auburn had a chance beat Houston on the final possession of the game after stringing together four straight stops in the final two minutes, just know that the ones who pulled it off weren’t.
The Tigers were much more frustrated that their three looks at a winner were all denied by the college basketball’s perennial top-ranked defense.
“I have a ton of respect for their toughness, for their culture, for their physicality,” Pearl said. “But that’s what we’ve been. That’s what we’ve been doing for the last eight years. That’s what our identity has been, too. … That’s what Auburn basketball has been for eight years now, and that was our emphasis going into this game.
“Like, we rebound too, right? We guard physically, too. We fly around, too. And I told our guys, the expectation is to win the game, not play the game close. And obviously, really disappointed that we came up short.”
Auburn didn’t want to focus on the fact that it almost beat Houston despite its top scorer, Keyshawn Hall, not playing the last 4:14 after suffering an injury. It wasn’t looking for pats on the back for just losing the rebounding battle by three to a bigger team, or for only turning it over eight times in the face of relentless pressure.
Pearl talked more about the 12 missed free throws. (“That’s the difference in the game right there. If we go ahead and make our free throws, it’s a different ball game.") He also focused on the 11 second-chance points from Houston in the second half after getting none in the first half. (“That’s controllable.”)
Everything positive that Auburn did in its near-upset of Houston — the constant rallies from multi-possession deficits, the timely stops, the solid offensive execution — was what was expected of this team internally. It didn’t matter what was lost from last year.
“Every day we show up to the gym, and we think we can compete with anybody in the country,” said Tahaad Pettiford, the lone returner. “Obviously, last year, having the team we had, having older guys, this year it’s different, with a bunch of younger guys. But I feel like we can compete with anybody, as you can see. We came out, late in the game, we lost Key, but we still fought against a great team. We lost by 1.
“I think if we just keep it up — every day show up and get better — I think we can really shock the world.”
Auburn didn’t need to prove that to itself Sunday. But a lot of others found out.
Here are four Observations from Auburn’s 73-72 loss to Houston, along with the Rotation Charts, Nerd Stats and the Quote of the Day.
