Starting off SEC play with an 84-58 win over Missouri on Saturday, No. 2 Auburn will take to the road for a matchup against Texas on Tuesday night in the Moody Center.
The third-ever matchup between the Tigers and Longhorns will be another opportunity for Auburn to win a Quad 1 game, their eighth Quad 1 game on the season, all of which have come on the road. The Tigers have six Quad 1 wins on the season already.
“We’ve had a lot of big games, but I think this one absolutely qualifies. It qualifies for both teams. This is a Quad 1 opportunity for us. Obviously, Texas is a household name in the world of collegiate athletics. Everything they do in Texas is big, and they do it pretty well,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl.
The Longhorns are coming off a 20-point loss to No. 13 Texas A&M on Saturday, falling to 11-3 on the season. They are led by prolific freshman guard Tre Johnson, who averages 19 points per game and has scored in double digits in all but one game thus far.
“Obviously, Johnson is a top 10, or so, NBA pick as a freshman. Second in the league in scoring and leads them in a lot of categories. Just a terrific talent,” Pearl said.
Two other Longhorns join Johnson in double-digit scoring: Arthur Kaluma (13.8 ppg) and Jordan Pope (11.6 ppg). As a unit, the Longhorns rank 10th nationally in field goal percentage (50.6) and 3-point field goal percentage (40.4), with Johnson, Kaluma and Pope all three shooting over 40% from deep.
“This Texas team probably has the best collection of perimeter players that we have played,” Pearl said. “There are about six guys – Pope, Johnson, (Tramon) Mark, Kaluma (Chendell) Weaver, and (Julian) Larry – those six perimeter guys together, I think, are the most talented group that we have played. We have gone up against a couple of great guards, but we haven’t gone up against a team with this many great guards.”
Auburn comes in with the nation's No. 6 scoring offense with 88 points per game, led by Johni Broome, who averages a double-double with 18.6 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. Chad Baker-Mazara, Tahaad Pettiford, Denver Jones and Chaney Johnson all join Broome in double-digit scoring per game.
On Saturday, the Tigers committed a season-high 14 turnovers against a Missouri squad that averaged 10.3 steals per game coming in. Texas, ranked sixth nationally in forcing turnovers with 9.1 per game, will bring similar defensive intensity on Tuesday. However, Auburn has the second-best turnover rate in the country, with just 130 on the season.
“I would imagine that they (Texas) are going to be fired up about the opportunity to play us, the No. 2 team in the country, in their building. Obviously, the prize on our head is significant. When you can beat the teams that are ranked, it’s a separator. For us, Texas is a huge separator. A Quad 1 opportunity, a road game against a very talented, well-coached team,” Pearl said. “We’ll have to play our best to win.”
Tipoff for Tuesday is set for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
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