Observations: Oklahoma State 97, Auburn 95 (OT)
There's a lot to correct from the Tigers' first exhibition under Steven Pearl. But there are also real positives from such a hard-fought loss.
BIRMINGHAM — Steven Pearl told his new team before its first exhibition that it couldn’t overreact to a 20-point win or a 20-point loss.
So that should ring even more true for a game decided by 2 in overtime, right?
A new era of Auburn men’s basketball unofficially began Wednesday night in Birmingham’s historic Boutwell Auditorium with a tough 97-95 loss to Oklahoma State that needed five extra minutes to decide it.
Even though the game didn’t even count, the Tigers played the Cowboys with the intensity of a matchup that would affect what happens on Selection Sunday.
“Obviously, we play the game to win the game,” Pearl said. “Disappointed that we weren’t able to come out and beat a good but a shorthanded Oklahoma State team.”
Truth be told, a lot of what happened in this exhibition was expected: Auburn’s nearly brand-new roster has a lot of work to do on defense, but the offensive potential is both high and multifaceted.
Auburn gave up 85 points in regulation — a number that only Alabama and Florida hit on a top-10 defense nationally last season.
The Tigers also averaged 1.131 points per possession while shooting just 35.6% from the field and 29.6% from deep thanks in large part to 49 free-throw attempts — a number that Auburn hadn’t hit in a game since a win over Alabama two seasons ago.
But, of the 11 players who stepped on the floor Wednesday night for Auburn, only two of them were on the team last season. Only one of them was in the rotation. More than half of the Tigers in total had never played in a Division I basketball game.
“It’s really good to let them play and play with some mistakes,” Pearl said. “It’s going to be a great film to watch. We’re going to be able to learn a ton from the film.”
The Tigers showed they have got a lot of work to do if they want to uphold the title-contending, tournament-playing legacy from the teams that came before them.
They also rallied from down 11 in the first half, down 7 with 3:49 to go in the second half and down 5 early in overtime to tie the game every single time — all with a rowdy pro-Auburn crowd behind them.
The second and third of those comebacks came without KeShawn Murphy, who left the game with an apparent leg injury after slipping while trying to help a teammate. (Pearl didn’t have an update after the game on Murphy, who stayed on the bench with a brace on his knee.)
Auburn also had to deal with foul trouble for top scoring options Tahaad Pettiford and Keyshawn Hall, which heavily affected the lineup rotation.
In the proper context, all of that’s not bad for a group that’s still learning how to play with each other in a game that doesn’t count.
“A lot of positives that can come out of this,” Pearl said. “At the same time, as we figured, we learned a lot about our team. But I think one of the encouraging things is there’s a lot of things that are controllable, a lot of things that we can fix.”
Remember: It’s important to not overreact to one game. Besides, the last time Auburn lost an exhibition, it came to a Division II team. Those Tigers went on to win the SEC.
“That’s why we play these scrimmages,” Pearl said. “We play really good quality opponents to really learn what we have and what we’ve got to build on.”
Here are four Observations from Auburn’s overtime exhibition loss to Oklahoma State, along with the Rotation Charts, Nerd Stats and the Quote of the Night.
