No. 1 Auburn falls at No. 22 Texas A&M, Tigers’ first SEC road loss

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Making his first career start, Tahaad Pettiford made six 3-pointers and scored 19 points, but No. 1 Auburn fell to No. 22 Texas A&M 83-72 Tuesday at Reed Arena, ending the Tigers’ six-game winning streak.

“We just didn’t step up,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “They physically dominated the game. We got pushed around tonight. Give Texas A&M credit. They’ve beaten us before this way.”

Starting in place of Denver Jones, who was injured in Auburn’s SEC championship-clinching win Saturday at Kentucky, Pettiford made 5 of 8 3-point attempts in the second half. 

Chad Baker-Mazara scored 15 points and led Auburn with five assists. Miles Kelly was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line, adding 12 points and four assists.  Johni Broome contributed eight points and a team-high seven rebounds. 

The defeat cost Auburn an opportunity to go 9-0 in SEC road games, ending the Tigers’ streak of nine consecutive conference road victories dating back to the end of last season. 

Trailing by six at the half, Auburn fell behind by 13 early in the second half before back-to-back 3-pointers by Pettiford brought the Tigers back within six, leading to an Aggies’ timeout with 14:32 remaining.

Pettiford’s third 3-pointer of the half kept the Tigers within six points, but the Aggies hurt Auburn with 29 second-chance points, outrebounding the visitors 41-25, including 24 offensive boards. 

The Tigers pulled within eight points five more times in the half but each time, the Aggies answered, outrebounding Auburn 22-8 in the second half. 

“We obviously missed Denver Jones as our most physical defender,” Pearl said. “If you can defensively keep them squared up a little bit more and not have the frontline have to come over, rotate and help, then you’ve got a fighting chance.” 

Baker-Mazara, who led the Tigers with 10 first-half points, ended the opening half with a long 3-pointer that cut Texas A&M’s lead to 40-34 at intermission, but the Aggies opened the second half with a 6-0 run and never trailed. 

Auburn (27-3, 15-2) returns to Neville Arena Saturday for Senior Day, hosting No. 7 Alabama at 1:30 p.m. CT on ESPN and the Auburn Sports Network. 

“We’ll be excited about playing at home on Saturday,” Pearl said. “You’d like to be playing your best basketball heading into postseason. We’ve got the conference championships wrapped up. We’d like to try to wrap up the No. 1 seed. We think the resume is strong enough to get the No. 1 seed overall, which I think is important. More importantly, I want to see how we respond.” 

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer

POSTGAME NOTES

• Auburn went with starting five of Tahaad Pettiford, Miles Kelly, Chad Baker-Mazara, Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell. It marked Pettiford’s first career start, while Cardwell is the only player to start in all 30 games this season.
• The Tigers shot 50.0 percent (25-of-50) on the night including 40.9 percent (9-of-22) from 3-point range. It was the 13th time Auburn has shot 50 percent this season including the last three games when they have shot 54.0 percent (88-of-163).
• Auburn shot a season-best 86.7 percent (13-of-15) from the foul line at Texas A&M. The Tigers have now shot 79.8 percent (99-of-124) from the charity stripe over the last five games. 
• Johni Broome became the fourth player in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history to score 2,500 career points and pull down 1,500 career rebounds, joining Houston’s Elvin Hayes (1965-68), Elgin Baylor of Seattle (1954-58) and Wake Forest’s Dickie Hemric (1951-55).
• Auburn placed three players in double figures led by Pettiford’s 19 points on a career high six made 3-pointers on 10 attempts. It was his 17th game in double figures this season including his 11th in SEC play. Pettiford averaged 20.0 points in back-to-back road games at Kentucky and at Texas A&M. He moved into a tie for sixth with Daymeon Fishback on Auburn’s freshman 3-pointer list. 
• For the third-straight game, Baker-Mazara scored in double figures in the first half as he totaled 10 points before halftime after scoring 12 first-half points against Ole Miss and 16 first-half points at Kentucky over the last two games. He finished the night with 15 points on 5-of-10 field goals, 3-of-6 from long range and 2-of-2 at the free throw line along with five assists, three rebounds and two blocks. It was Baker-Mazara’s 23rd game in double figures this season including his sixth straight during which he has averaged 16.7 points per contest. He has now tallied 55 double-figure scoring games in his career.
• Kelly scored 12 points on a career-best 10-of-10 from the foul line to go with a career-high five steals, four assists and three rebounds against the Aggies. He went over 1,400 carer points in the game finishing the night with 1,403 points. Kelly has scored in double figures four-straight games averaging 16.5 points during that span. His five steals are tied for the most by an individual in Bruce Pearl’s tenure at Auburn and the most since Baker-Mazara recorded five steals against LSU last season.
• Dylan Cardwell, who ranks third among active NCAA Division I players in field-goal percentage, scored eight points on 4-of-4 shooting along with three rebounds, two assists and two steals at Texas A&M.