WACO, Texas – Jaylin Williams scored 17 points to lead five Tigers in double figures and Auburn threatened No. 2 Baylor for a half before the unbeaten Bears pulled away to win 84-72 Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
"Disappointed," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "Missed opportunity. I thought we had a good game plan. I thought we executed it really well for the first 15 minutes. Had some breakdowns at the end of the first half and didn't start the second half with any effort and energy."
Williams was 7-for-10 from the field and 3-for-6 on 3-pointers. Sharife Cooper scored 15 points, JT Thor scored 13, Allen Flanigan added 11 and Devan Cambridge scored 10.
"I knew going in that Jaylin at the 5 was going to be a good thing," Pearl said. "We didn't take enough advantage of him at the 5. Those two young guys (Williams and Thor) played really well. Their starting 4 and 5 had two points, and our starting 4 and 5 had 30."
Williams and Flanigan shared Auburn's rebounding lead with eight apiece. Flanigan led Auburn with six assists while Cooper grabbed seven rebounds and dished five assists.
Leading by five at the half, Baylor (16-0) made its first four shots of the second half to build a double-digit lead. The Tigers made seven of their last eight shots to trim a 21-point deficit to a dozen.
"Proud of the kids for coming back," Pearl said. "We pressed and closed the game out the last five or six minutes with some effort and energy. We made some plays."
Auburn trailed 35-30 at halftime after outrebounding Baylor 27-19 in the first 20 minutes.
Cambridge's putback slam gave Auburn a 22-21 lead before an 8-0 Baylor run.
After Williams and Thor made 3-pointers, the Tigers pulled within one point with 1:24 left in the half when Cambridge dunked Flanigan's alley-oop pass.
Cambridge led Auburn with eight first-half points.
Auburn, the least experienced D-I team, has played the top two ranked teams in the country this season, including a Nov. 27 neutral-site loss to No. 1 Gonzaga.
"These guys came here to play against a great schedule," Pearl said. "You're fortunate to be able to play in this arena against this program. We're close, we're improving, but we're not where we want to be or where I want us."
The Tigers (10-8, 4-5) return to Auburn Arena and SEC play when they host Georgia Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network and Ole Miss Saturday at 3 p.m. CT on ESPN2. Auburn seeks the season sweep against the Bulldogs after beating Georgia in Athens 95-77 on Jan. 13. Ole Miss beat Auburn in Oxford 72-61 on Jan. 6.
"The mentality is to win the next nine games to try to finish first or second in the league," Williams said. "It's not going to be easy and we've got to be ready for [Georgia]. We're going to really want to play hard for that [Ole Miss] game because the first one didn't go so well for us."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer