After a 22-point rout of then-No.15 Arkansas at Neville Arena over the weekend for its first SEC win, Auburn aims to stay in the win column Wednesday night as it travels to Columbia, Mo., to take on the black and gold Tigers.
“We’re playing good basketball right now, and it’s all because we’ve been really intentional with what we’ve been doing in practice,” head coach Steven Pearl said. “We’ve got to keep that up.”
Auburn dominated the paint with a 48-28 advantage against Arkansas, but it will be tested once more on the inside against Missouri, the seventh-tallest team in the nation, according to KenPom – a spot ahead of Arizona, which handed Auburn a 29-point loss earlier this season.
“We did a good job of contesting without fouling. And that’s something we’ve really harped on all year, is just getting vertical at the rim and don’t bail them out,” Pearl said. “Make them earn everything at the rim.”
Missouri enters the matchup off a 76-69 loss to Ole Miss, but remains perfect at home with a 10-0 record at Mizzou Arena and owns wins over Florida and Kentucky since the start of SEC play.
With a deep rotation of seven guys averaging at least 14 minutes per game, Missouri ranks 15th nationally in field-goal percentage, shooting 51.3% from the floor while averaging 81.7 points per game.
Offensively, Missouri is led by guard Mark Mitchell with 17.4 points per game, with three others scoring in double figures.
“They have some really prolific playmakers,” Pearl said of Missouri.
Auburn will again rely on the hot hand of Keyshawn Hall, who scored 64 total points in two games last week with back-to-back 32-point performances. Behind Hall, Auburn is averaging a league-leading 94.3 ppg in SEC play, while shooting 48.5% from the field – just behind Missouri’s 48.7% mark in conference games.
Point guard Tahaad Pettiford has embraced his role as the Tigers’ leading assist man. Tallying seven assists against Arkansas, Pettiford was the catalyst for an Auburn offense that dished out 20 assists, marking the third time this season the Tigers have reached that mark.
“The more he does that, the easier it’s going to be on him offensively,” Pearl said. “It’s definitely something I am going to continue to challenge him on.”
“Selfish offense leads to selfish defense,” he added. “Unselfish offense leads to unselfish defense. I thought we had a lot of unselfish offense against Arkansas, and it led to a lot of unselfish defense.”
Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN2 at Mizzou Arena.
“You’re gonna hear me say it a lot,” Pearl said. “It’s another great opportunity against a really good team.”
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