AUBUNRN, Ala. (EETV) - For the fourth time in school history, Auburn has played the number one ranked team (Gonzaga) and number two ranked team (Baylor) in the same season.
"These guys came here to play against a great schedule," Pearl said.
Auburn previously played first ranked Gonzaga in the second game of the season in Fort Myers, FL. The Tigers' youth showed as they could not keep up with the Bulldogs as they lost 90-67.
Coming into Saturday's matchup, Baylor (15-0) leads the nation in three-point shooting and is the most experienced team in the country. However, with Sharife Cooper, the Tigers are a completely different team since they played Gonzaga in November.
Before the game, Bruce Pearl told his players, "the only way to beat Baylor is to hold them from making threes."
Both teams had their struggles in the first half. Auburn was able to hold Baylor to just 4-13 from deep, but 10 first-half turnovers by the Tigers allowed the Bears to maintain a lead for the majority of the half. Auburn's top two leading scorers, Flanigan and Cooper, were held to a combined 2-12 from the floor, but the Tigers only trailed the Bears 35-30 at halftime.
Roaring out of the gates to start the second half was the Baylor Bears. The Bears went on an 8-0 run and made the scoring gap too large for the inexperienced Tigers to overcome.
"We did not start the second half with any effort or energy," Pearl said.
The difference was noticeable as Auburn out-rebounded Baylor in the first half, 27 to 19, but lack of boxing out allowed the Bears to grab eight more boards than the Tigers in the second half.
After shooting just 30% from deep in the first half, the Bears made seven three-pointers in the second half. What does not seem to be too much of a difference wound up being the reason for the game's outcome.
At the 5:21 mark, the Bears widened their lead to 21, making it near impossible for the Tigers to fight back. Auburn did not give up, though, and lost to the Bears by 12 with a final score of 84- 72.
Pearl mentioned that if Auburn had held Baylor to the same number of threes in the second half as the first, it would be a tie game. Pearl was "disappointed" and called the game a "missed opportunity" for the Tigers.
Auburn faced off against one of its former players in Davion Mitchell, Baylor's starting point guard. There is no bad blood between Mitchell and Auburn as he transferred following the 2017-18 season because he was playing behind two young stars in Jared Harper and Bryce Brown. Coming off a career game before facing the Tigers, Mitchell put up 13 points, team-high seven assists and three rebounds on Saturday.
Cooper and Williams led Auburn for most of the game as Flanigan struggled offensively. Williams led the team in scoring and rebounding with 17 points, 8-10 from the field, and eight rebounds. Cooper finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Flanigan could not get into a flow offensively as he shot 3-14 and had five turnovers, all in the first half.
After playing on the road in six of their last nine games, Auburn has back to back home games this week against Georgia on Tuesday and a revenge game against Ole Miss on Saturday.
Tuesday's matchup between the Tigers and Bulldogs will be broadcasted on SEC Network at 6:00 p.m. from Auburn Arena.
