AUBURN, Ala. (EETV)- Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Arkansas was drowned in white. The Razorback faithful were bubbling over like the crest on an ocean wave.
Wendell Green Jr. strides through the white noise up the court and pulls up, from the logo, for a 3-point shot with six seconds left on the clock.
Clink.
The shot misses. Auburn and Arkansas were heading into overtime.
The overtime period was enough for Arkansas to pull away and upset Auburn, 80-76, in Bud Walton Arena on Tuesday night. With the loss, Auburn's 19-game winning streak has come to an end and they fall to 22-2 on the season.
“My teammates trust me with the ball in my hands at the end of the game,” Green said. “Just ended up missing. At 22-2, we feel great about where we’re at. We know what we have to work on to get better. Stay together and move forward to the next game.”
In the overtime period, Arkansas slowly pulled away from Auburn by getting to the free throw line. The Razorbacks hit 11 free throws in the five minute period. Auburn over the entire game made eight. Arkansas got to the free throw line 32 times in the win and knocked in 26.
Walker Kessler had the best game of his career on the glass but one of the worst at the charity stripe. Kessler went 0-for-6 from the line in loss. The sophomore was three blocks shy of a triple-double as he finished his night with 16 points, 19 rebounds and seven blocks.
The only Tiger that made more than one free throw attempt in the game was freshman Jabari Smith. Smith went 5-for-5 from the line and finished his night with 20 points and nine rebounds.
“I thought we played really well defensively,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “Walker Kessler was amazing. What a warrior. Jabari made some big shots and Wendell was a tough cover. We need more balance.”
Auburn was once again without starting point guard Zep Jasper. Jasper was out for the second straight game with a non-COVID related illness and did not travel with the team. Jasper boasts the best assist-to-turnover ratio in all of college basketball with a 3.18.
“Zep is the best on-ball defender in the league and he doesn’t turn it over,” Pearl said. “We turned it over 19 times.”
Green Jr. has been taking over in Jasper's absence as starting point guard. Green Jr. turned it over a team high seven times in the loss. The sophomore also added 19 points, five assists and four rebounds to his stat line.
Auburn will look to bounce back from it first loss in a little over two months when Texas A&M heads to the plains. Tipoff is scheduled for 11 AM CST and will air on ESPN following ESPN's College Gameday, which is in Auburn for the second time ever.
