With a chance to notch its best-ranked road win in program history, No. 20 Auburn suffered a 97-68 loss against No. 2 Arizona on Saturday night in McKale Memorial Center.
Saturday night marked the first true road game of the season for the Tigers, and the third top-10 opponent they have played this season. They own a 0-3 record in those matchups, bringing their season record to 7-3.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Tahaad continues his tear on the road
Auburn point guard Tahaad Pettiford continued his stellar offensive play away from Neville against the Wildcats on Saturday.
Pettiford led all players in the Players Era Festival last week with 22.3 points per game in three contests, including a career-high 27 points. He is averaging 20.5 ppg in Auburn’s neutral site games this season, but has not scored more than 13 points inside Neville Arena.
On Saturday, Pettiford led all scorers with 30 points, marking a new career-high. He shot 10-of-19 from the field and was a perfect 5-of-5 from the charity stripe with five triples.
Nothing else doing for Auburn scorers
Outside of Pettiford's career night, the Tigers did not have much to brag about as the rest of the squad combined for just 38 points on an 11-of-44 mark from the field.
The Tigers shot just 6-of-25 from deep, with Keyshawn Hall owning the only other 3-pointer.
Auburn shot 33% from the field on just 21 made field goals, marking the lowest field goal percentage of the season, and its 68 points are the lowest point total of the season.
Arizona puts it away early
Arizona was rolling with an extended 26-6 run as he first half was coming to a close, boasting a 20-point lead. But Auburn answered with an 8-0 run to close out the first stanza, cutting its deficit to 12 heading into the break.
However, Arizona came out firing on all cylinders to start the second half, opening with a 16-2 run to hold a 60-34 lead at the first media timeout.
The Wildcats went on to shoot 63.6% in the second half, scoring 53 points and recording 21 of their 41 total buckets in the final 30 minutes.
Wildcats live inside
It was well documented going into this one that Arizona was going to try to impose its will on the inside against an undersized Auburn squad – per KenPom, Arizona’s is the seventh-tallest in the country, with four players standing at 6-foot-9 or taller.
Arizona, which averaged 46.6 points in the paint per game coming into this one, surpassed that mark against the Tigers, notching 60 points in the painted area on Saturday – the most Auburn has given up all season.
The Wildcats, the 25th-best rebounding team in the nation with over 42 per game, owned a +6 advantage on the boards against the Tigers, with 40 on the night. However, Auburn corralled 16 offensive rebounds to Arizona’s 11, though it made no difference with the Wildcats shooting a whopping 61% from the field – the highest field goal percentage Auburn has allowed this season.
Arizona’s depth too much for Auburn
Arizona came into this one as just one of two teams that have had six different players score 20 points in a game this season.
While the Wildcats didn’t boast a 20-point scorer against the Tigers, they did see five players record double digits. Every Wildcat that saw at least 13 minutes of action scored a bucket.
Arizona, which averaged 30 points per game from its bench before Saturday, tallied 27 bench points against the Tigers. Meanwhile, Auburn scored just six points from its bench.
Auburn will return to action next Saturday against Chattanooga for the Holiday Hoopsgiving event at State Farm Arena. Tip-off is slated for 3:30 p.m. SECN.
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