Jan. 17, 2018
By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The streak had to come to an end at some point.
Auburn, who entered Wednesday's game at Alabama on the nation's longest winning streak (14), dropped a 76-71 decision to the Crimson Tide on the road. It was the team's first loss since falling to Temple in the Charleston Classic on Nov. 17.
"For us, it was a missed opportunity because they were short-handed and we did not play well," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said after the game. "They had a lot to do with it. I didn't think we executed offensively as a result of our assist-to-turnover ratio."
While the Tigers might have had an off-night from the field, they continued to battle down the stretch and even had a chance to tie the game with five seconds left. However, junior guard Bryce Brown, who led Auburn with 12 points, stepped out of bounds before he could get a shot off.
Desean Murray (11), Jared Harper (10) and Chuma Okeke (10) also scored in double figures for Auburn on Wednesday, while junior-college transfer Malik Dunbar added eight points and three rebounds off the bench. It was the 16th time in 18 games at least four players have scored in double figures this season.
It was a cold start for the Tigers, who shot just 1 of 10 in the first four minutes, but they quickly responded with an 11-0 run that included three-point shots from Okeke, Brown and Davion Mitchell. It was back-and-forth the rest of the half until Okeke hit another shot from distance at the buzzer to give Auburn a 33-30 lead at the intermission.
In the second half, Alabama jumped out to a double-digit lead thanks in large part to guard John Petty, who finished with a game-high 27 points.
The Tigers had plenty of chances to trim the lead late in the game but struggled from the free-throw line in the final minutes, which is uncharacteristic for a team that entered Wednesday's game as the SEC leader in free-throw shooting percentage. They also made just two three-points shot in the final 20 minutes after knocking down seven in the first half.
"We can't allow this setback to stay with us very long," Pearl said. "We're not able to get back to Auburn tonight because of the weather. So we've got to travel back tomorrow and we've got a short turnaround against a pretty good Georgia team. It's one game at a time, one matchup at a time. We've got a find way to have a little bit more energy out there on the floor."
Auburn (16-2, 4-1) falls a half-game behind Florida in the SEC standings and will return home Saturday to face Georgia at 5 p.m. CT on the SEC Network.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf