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By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
Once upon a time, Auburn led Iowa State by seven points, but it was difficult to tell that when things were done.
No. 17 Iowa State ran past Auburn 99-70 in the basketball Tigers' first road game of the season.
"We got off to a good start, then we got cold," said Auburn coach Tony Barbee. "But it's not what you do on offense, it's what you do on the defensive end of the floor."
Chris Denson led Auburn, as usual, this time with 27 points. But Auburn otherwise had trouble on the floor and the stat sheet. The Tigers finished with a modest 22 field goals. Iowa State had 35. Iowa State outrebounded Auburn 35-29, but the difference was bigger until the Tigers made up ground late.
Iowa State improved to 6-0 after the game on its home court in Ames. Auburn fell to 4-2 in its first road game against a ranked non-conference opponent since 1985.
One of Barbee's concerns coming in played out. Iowa State hit 13 3-pointers. Auburn hit six.
Barbee said on the Auburn radio broadcast that the Tigers' overall game suffered because of "our inability to make shots, and make open 3s."
"I didn't think we did a very good job of throwing the extra pass. I thought they did an outstanding job of throwing the extra pass, that's why they got 25 assists and we only got seven. We've got guys that won't drive for their teammates. They're driving for themselves. They're shooting the ball in front of three people when there are two or three guys open on the perimeter."
"The bottom line," Barbee would add, "they out-toughed us."
Auburn's offense played out in the usual way. Denson's 29 were followed by KT Harrell's 19 points. But Iowa State countered Auburn's two double-digit scorers with five of their own. Dustin Hogue led the Cyclones with 22 points.
The Tigers did finally get a look at 6-foot-9 Mathew Atewe, who missed the first five games with a foot injury. He didn't score, but had two rebounds before fouling out.
"I'm glad we were able to give him some game action," Barbee said. "He brings us some toughness, something we lack across our front line.
"We'll try to get his basketball legs back under him. I liked what I saw out of Matt."
Barbee hopes to make it a double win for Auburn in Atlanta this weekend. The football team plays Missouri in the SEC Championship Game in the Georgia Dome on Saturday. The basketball team plays Illinois in Philips Arena on Sunday.
"We want an all orange-and-blue Atlanta weekend," Barbee said.
Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine