Observations: Auburn 88, Missouri 82

Auburn lost a big lead, again. Then Sharife Cooper took over, the bench rose up and Allen Flanigan delivered the knockout punch in a top-15 win.

PG Sharife Cooper (Shanna Lockwood/Auburn Athletics)

If Auburn’s home game against No. 12 Missouri felt a lot like its previous midweek game, it’s because it was trending in that direction. The Tigers raced out to a big first-half lead, had a slump late in the first half and went through a rough start to the second half.

Last week against Arkansas, that turned into a loss. But this was different. This was a home game in Auburn Arena. A loud crowd was behind the Tigers. Charles Barkley was in attendance and talked to the team before the game.

Oh, and Sharife Cooper was getting foul calls this time.

Auburn went from up by 14 points to down by seven and then back up by as many as nine in what would be an 88-82 home victory Tuesday night. The Tigers now have a win over a ranked opponent, and they’ve got plenty of momentum heading into an extremely tough closer to what has been a grueling January schedule.

Here are five Observations, the Rotation Chart, the Nerd Stats and a potential Quote of t…