Auburn fell short in its upset bid against No. 12 Arizona.
The Tigers lost 80-69 in a game that featured 15 lead changes and a double-digit comeback by Auburn in the second half to tie it. With the loss, Auburn falls to 2-1 on the season before heading out to Las Vegas for the Player’s Era 8 Tournament.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It took a few minutes for either team to get going, as a tradeoff of three-pointers was all either team scored in the first four minutes. Eventually the pace picked up, and the teams traded baskets before Arizona took the first multi-possession lead, 14-9.
Enter the stage, Thomas Dowd.
The Troy transfer knocked down a three-pointer, grabbed a defensive rebound on Arizona’s ensuing possession, hit a layup and then another three to give Auburn the 17-14 lead off an 8-0 solo run.
From that moment, Arizona garnered a slight advantage over the final 10 minutes of the half. The Wildcats took a 36-32 lead into halftime on the back of a 12-point, five-rebound first-half performance from Alabama native Caleb Holt.
Arizona opened the second half as strong as it could have hoped — an 8-0 run to push its lead to double digits and grab a commanding 14-point advantage.
It took Auburn nearly three-and-a-half minutes to score in the second half, with Bukky Oboye’s dunk ending the drought. Kevin Overton picked the ball from Holt on the ensuing Arizona possession and scored, bringing Neville Arena back to its feet and the deficit to 10.
Arizona answered with a basket of its own, but back-to-back triples from Overton and Adam Olsen brought the Arizona lead down to six. With a few Arizona scores in between, the six-point lead became four, four became two, and eventually, the Tigers drew even at 53-53.
No one player led the charge for Auburn — it was a total team effort. Only Dowd tallied double figures scoring at that moment, and eight of his 11 points at the time had come from his 8-0 run earlier.
For the next four minutes, no team could string together consecutive scores and the two exchanged blows. With every Auburn basket, Neville Arena would erupt. And with every Arizona answer, it would be silenced.
Arizona eventually broke the streak with a 9-0 run with less than six minutes to go to grab a 68-61 lead.
Auburn never recovered. The lead consistently stayed multiple possessions out of reach for the remainder of the game before the final buzzer sounded.
KEY PLAYERS AND STATS
Dowd finished as Auburn’s leading scorer and rebounder, dropping 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Behind him, Olsen finished the night with 12 points — a season-high. They were the only two Auburn players in double figures, as Tahaad Pettiford and Kevin Overton combined for just 14 points.
Narcisse Ngoy finished second in rebounding with eight, but it was a relatively quiet night offensively for the Auburn bigs. Ngoy had one point, while Oboye finished with five.
Meanwhile, four Arizona players finished in double figures scoring. Caleb Holt scored 24, Derek Dixon scored 11, Ivan Kharchenkov scored 19 and Motiejus Krivas scored 16.
Auburn’s bench outscored Arizona’s bench 34-4 and blocked 13 shots compared to the Wildcats’ three, but Arizona won the rebounding battle 47-35 and scored 16 more points than Auburn in the paint.
The Tigers finished the night shooting 36% from the floor, 37% from deep and making 12 of 20 free-throw attempts. Arizona was more efficient, shooting 44% from the field, 43% from deep and 82% from the free-throw line.
Auburn returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 17, facing West Virginia in Las Vegas for the Player’s Era 8 tournament.
