Looking to avenge itself from a lackluster conference showing in the regular season, 12th-seeded Auburn aims for get-back at No. 13 Mississippi State in the first round of the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday.
Sitting at No. 40 in the NET rankings with the third-toughest strength of schedule in the nation, Auburn seemingly needs an undefeated week in Nashville to pair with some feature wins, to ensure an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
"We’ve put ourselves in a position to be considered, and I think our resume stands up against anybody’s,” head coach Steven Pearl said. "We have enough quality wins to be in this tournament. We have five of the best wins in the country, we have the best win in college basketball at Florida."
Auburn will look to make a strong start against the Bulldogs, something it has struggled with, having lost eight of its last 10 games. In the last meeting, Mississippi State shot out to a 16-point lead at halftime behind 35 points from Josh Hubbard in the first stanza, outscoring the Tigers by three in the half.
Auburn erased an 18-point second-half deficit, but Mississippi State closed the game on an 18-5 run to hold on for a 91-85 victory. The Tigers neutralized Hubbard for much of the second half, as he finished with 46 points, holding him without a field goal for 18 minutes before he drained a corner three for a two-point lead, one his squad held onto the remainder of regulation.
“You can’t let someone score 46 points and expect to win,” said Pearl. “It was a great comeback, and we showed a lot of grit, a lot of fight, but we have to do a better job as a staff, being up seven with four minutes left.”
Hubbard, the second-leading scorer in the league with 22.1 points per game, is coming off another stellar performance with 42 points against Georgia in a 102-96 loss at Stegeman Coliseum.
Hall led Auburn in the first meeting with 29 points and 10 rebounds, while Tahaad Pettiford scored 21 points with four assists. Pettiford has scored 20-plus in six of his last nine games, while Hall finished the regular season as the league's fourth-leading scorer (20.4 ppg).
Tipoff for Wednesday is at approximately 2 p.m. on SEC Network, following the tournament’s opening game between Kentucky and LSU at 11:30 a.m.
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