After loss at Kentucky, time is running out for Auburn basketball to fix its problems
After Auburn basketball narrowly escaped what would've been a catastrophic loss against Ole Miss on Wednesday, coach Bruce Pearl made a prediction for what would happen to the Tigers against Kentucky if they repeated their performance on the glass.
"(If) we rebound like we did tonight, we’ll get beat by 40," Pearl said Wednesday.
He was only eight points off.
The Tigers were outrebounded 38-28 by the Rebels. On Saturday, the Wildcats finished with a commanding 41-23 advantage on the boards in their 86-54 trouncing of the Tigers. Reigning National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe hauled in 17 rebounds − six offensive − and Jacob Toppin added 12 more. The five misses Dylan Cardwell was able to corral led Auburn. Jaylin Williams had four and no other Tiger had more than two. Johni Broome, who came in averaging over 8.5 rebounds per game, secured just one.
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"Tshiebwe and Toppin physically had their way with us," Pearl said postgame. "Obviously, we didn't share the ball, (either). To only have one assist in the first half means the guys weren't playing together, weren't playing for each other. Weren't helping each other out, and that's the key to being able to play in a hostile environment: Trusting each other and relying on each other on both ends of the floor. And we didn't."
The Tigers finished with a season-low four assists. Wendell Green Jr. accounted for half of them. Green, who is second on the team in points per game and leads the squad in assists by a large margin (62 ahead of the nearest teammate), struggled overall against the Wildcats.
He missed nine of his 12 shots and ended up with nine points. In three of his last four games, the Detroit native has scored fewer than ten points and shot below 26% from the field. He was spectacular against Ole Miss, posting 23 points, including four clutch free throws down the stretch, on 50% shooting.
But without him in a groove, Auburn has struggled.
"We go as Wendell goes, and, obviously, Wendell struggled," Pearl said. "But obviously, (he) did not have a lot of help. So, it was a complete domination on both ends of the floor, and it really hurts our NCAA (Tournament) hopes because of the margin. So, we've got to regroup. We've got go to Alabama and we've got Tennessee at home, and we've got to win one of them, at least."
It's difficult to quantify what a 32-point loss will do to Auburn's NCAA Tournament resume. According to KenPom, which updates in real-time, the Tigers are slotted at No. 31, a nine-spot slide from where they were before the Kentucky game.
Auburn still controls its destiny with matchups on the road at Alabama on Wednesday and in Neville Arena against Tennessee on March 4. Wins over either of those teams would surely cement the Tigers' NCAA Tournament hopes. Even with two more losses, they could still sneak in, especially with the conference tournament still to come.
But it'd be a lot less stressful on Selection Sunday for Pearl and his staff if they can pick up at least one more regular-season victory.
"We got beat in every facet of the game," Pearl said of his team's performance against the Wildcats. "We weren't competitive. We were obviously ready to play because we played well early. But from the last four minutes of the first half all the way through the second half, very, very poor performance and very, very poor effort. I apologize to our fans for such a letdown."
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: What Auburn basketball must do with just two regular-season games left
