Auburn’s dramatic home win over Kentucky last weekend was quickly erased after the Tigers fell 91-79 with an uninspiring performance against Oklahoma on Tuesday night at Lloyd Noble Center.
Auburn dropped to 15-13 overall and 5-11 in Quad I affairs, with the loss marking the first to Oklahoma since 1988.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Auburn’s hot start cools off, OU takes advantage
Both teams came out of the gates firing on all cylinders offensively.
Auburn buried a pair of triples to Oklahoma’s perfect 4-for-4 start from beyond the arc.
After back-and-forth blows, Auburn went on a near five-minute scoring drought as Oklahoma relied on Mohamed Wague’s 14 first-half points – he averages 6.6 points per game – and Nijel Pack’s 3-point prowess – a perfect 4-for-4 mark from deep – to extend its lead to double digits at the under-4 timeout.
Auburn closed the final minutes of the first half on a mini 4-0 run and had a chance on an open corner three from Elyjah Freeman to extend its run to 7-0, but he missed nylon, and Oklahoma connected on its 10th triple of the half to head into the break with a 51-42 lead.
Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford and Keyshawn Hall were a combined 2-of-7 from the floor in the first half, and Hall committed a trio of turnovers.
Oklahoma holds its lead this time
Coming into this one, Oklahoma led in seven of its 15 conference games, yet it had only three wins.
The Sooners had no trouble holding onto their lead against Auburn on Tuesday.
Oklahoma extended its lead to 18 with over six minutes remaining after a 10-2 run, and Auburn fired back with a 10-2 burst of its own, but never trimmed the lead to single digits as Oklahoma saw four players score more than 14 points and shot 53% from the field.
3-point defense
Auburn entered this contest with the 15th-worst 3-point defense in the SEC, ranking 314th nationally, and Oklahoma exploited the Tigers’ weakness with a 68% clip from deep.
Pack, who entered the contest leading the SEC and ranking 10th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (44.1%), buried six triples on eight attempts to fuel the Sooners’ efforts.
The Sooners’ 68% mark from beyond the arc was the highest Auburn has allowed all season, and its 13 makes from deep tied for the third-most given up all season.
Kevin Overton keeps Auburn in it
Overton, an Oklahoma City native, carried the Tigers on his back for much of the night, finishing with 26 points with five treys.
He scored 16 in the first half with three triples.
But Auburn could not overcome 14 turnovers, and Hall led the way with six sloppy cough-ups. Hall, after scoring three points in the first half, tied Overton with 26 points while Pettiford only notched four points – he entered this one averaging 18.6 points per game on 44.1% shooting in 14 away games this season.
Auburn will return home against Ole Miss on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on SECN.
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