The Stretch 4: Can Auburn capitalize on a big road opportunity?

The Tigers got a massive home win they had to have. Now the challenge is continuing what worked so well vs. Arkansas in a trip to Mizzou.

AUBURN — There might not be any better examples of the parity and top-to-bottom quality that exists in this season’s edition of SEC men’s basketball than the two teams that will square off Wednesday night in CoMo.

Auburn is 1-2 to start conference play. But, as head coach Steven Pearl pointed out, his team started this week as T-Rank’s No. 9 team in college basketball since Christmas. The two losses were a shorthanded overtime loss at Georgia and a controversial reversal of a home win against Texas A&M. Then, against one of the best-looking teams in the league, Auburn got its first SEC win by 22 points.

Missouri is 2-1 to start conference play. Dennis Gates’ Tigers entered the SEC schedule fresh off a 43-point loss to Illinois and having only one win over a high-major. The two wins, though, were a 2-point home victory over defending national champion Florida before a 5-point road win at Kentucky’s historic Rupp Arena. Then, against a previously 0-2 Ole Miss, Missouri took its first SEC loss by seven points.

Close margins and tough tests have followed both teams of Tigers heading into their matchup at Mizzou Arena. But that’s just going to be life in an SEC that isn’t nearly as elite as it was last season, yet should still be filled with significant tests, twice per week, for two solid months.

“You're going to hear me say it a lot, but: Another great opportunity against a really good team,” Pearl said.

It might be easy to look at the Missouri team that got blown out by Illinois, lost by 20 to rival Kansas and dropped a game to a Notre Dame team that later lost to Purdue-Fort Wayne as what Auburn is going up against Wednesday night.

But Pearl would much rather point out that Missouri is undefeated at home and has looked like a different team since SEC play started — when it got two important players back from injury: fifth-year transfer wing Jayden Stone and 6-foot-10 stretch big Trent Pierce.

“You really can't judge this team unless you look at the last three games,” Pearl said. “Just because, with Jayden Stone and Trent Pierce coming back, it really gives them two perimeter threats that they didn't have against Illinois. Thirteen of their 21 made threes in conference play have come from those two guys, so they add a totally different dimension to their offense and don't allow you just to pack it in.

“They're a lot better offensively with those two out there on the floor, and both have given them a nice boost since they started conference play. To beat Florida and Kentucky in your first two, obviously that’s a statement right there.”

On top of that, Missouri is massive. Gates’ team is No. 7 nationally in average height, making it the biggest team Auburn has played this season. (Yes, it’s even bigger than Arizona and Michigan.) It’s a huge reason why it was able to counter Florida for a win.

Any road game in the SEC is going to be a tough one, and they can feel like they count twice as much when you get them. Missouri might be coming off of a loss — and Auburn might be coming off a large statement win — but KenPom and T-Rank are both projecting a game that will be determined by a single point.

In order to make sure they come back home from Missouri with a victory they feel like they have to get, the Tigers are going to have to keep building on the good trends they have been on since they came back from Christmas break, where at least one analytics system says they’ve been playing like a top-10 team in the country.

“We're 2-2, which is really disappointing, because to be playing that well, your record should be better,” Pearl said. “But it shows that what we're doing in practice, what we're doing in film, what we're doing in our individual meetings has been productive. And results are going to continue to come if we continue to stay bought into what we've been doing every single day.

“Just got to continue to trust that.”

Before the Observer gets to CoMo for this Wednesday night showdown of Tigers in SEC play, here is a full preview of the matchup in this week’s edition of The Stretch 4.

(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)

“If our 5s can play like they did against Arkansas…”