Tigers struggle down the stretch in loss to Arizona: 'We weren't able to finish'

Auburn’s chance at an upset win over No. 12 Arizona appeared within reach midway through the second half Friday night.

After all, the Tigers had overcome a 14-point deficit to take a 61-59 lead with 7:12 remaining, and Neville Arena was as energetic as it had been all night. With every shot Auburn took from that moment, you could sense the crowd holding its breath, ready to rupture into a frenzy.

And with every miss, a crowd-wide sigh of disappointment followed.

Auburn went 2-for-13 from the floor to close out the game and lost 80-69.

“I don't know if it was six or seven minutes left in the game, we weren't able to finish,” said head coach Steven Pearl. “And [Arizona] scored on four or five straight possessions when some of the bench guys went out.”

Auburn’s bench was the centerpiece of the Tigers’ offense Friday — scoring 34 of the Tigers’ 69 points. Offensive production lacked early on, and it wasn’t until key bench players entered the game that Auburn found rhythm.

“I thought they gave us a real spark,” Pearl said. “That's one thing we've talked about being a huge strength of ours -- when our best players don't have their best nights, those guys are able to come in and give us real life. It's something we've got to continue to have, and it allowed us to have an opportunity to win that game late. We just weren't able to put together enough stops late and execute enough offensively.”

The issues from the first half carried over into the second half for Auburn. It came at a poor time, too, as Arizona began the second half on an 8-0 run to push the lead to 14 — the largest of the night.

Simultaneously, Auburn missed its first five shots of the second half, four of which were 3-pointers.

“Early in the second half, we got three or four clean looks and missed all of them,” Pearl said. “[Arizona] came down and got us on some backdoors early, ran some good actions and made us pay. Pushed the lead out to 14.”

Auburn rallied to tie the game, but Arizona adjusted. The Wildcats started mixing up their ball screen coverages and Auburn couldn’t keep the advantage enough. It led to some low percentage shots, and while there were some clean looks for Auburn, there were still too many bad shots.

“I thought we had some clean ones, but we definitely forced some around the rim that weren't the best looks,” Pearl said.

Auburn finished the night shooting 35% from the floor, its lowest shooting percentage of the season and first time being under 40% this year.

“We can't shoot 35% and win big games,” Pearl said. “We're just not going to be able to.”

Arizona is a respectful opponent, sure, but the opportunity was there for Auburn. Missing the open looks, or even worse — taking bad shots — won’t get the job done. 

“We can't continue to go out there and these big moments, continue to take tough shots,” Pearl said. “It's not just one or two people. It's the entire team. We've all got to do a better job. I'll keep saying it. We've got to learn from it. We've got to be accountable for it. We've got to get better.”