AUBURN, Ala. – To reinforce his message about the importance of sharing the basketball, Auburn coach Steven Pearl asks the Tigers one question.
“Do you like winning?”
Fresh off Auburn’s biggest win of the year, a 95-73 victory over No. 15 Arkansas Saturday at Neville Arena, the Tigers travel to Missouri Wednesday looking for a second straight SEC triumph.
“Selfish offense leads to selfish defense,” Pearl said. “Unselfish offense leads to unselfish defense. I thought we had a lot of unselfish offense against Arkansas and it led to a lot of unselfish defense.”
Against the Razorbacks, Auburn had 20 assists and only 10 turnovers, including seven assists from Tahaad Pettiford.
“We’ve had a lot of good practices since Christmas,” said Pearl noting that Auburn averages 15 assists in victories and only 10 in losses. “What we’re doing in practice, what we’re doing in film, what we’re doing in our individual meetings, has been productive. Results are going to continue to come if we continue to stay bought in to what we’ve been doing every single day.”
Undefeated at home with a 10-0 record, Missouri opened SEC play with wins over Florida and Kentucky before falling at Ole Miss Saturday. 6-foot-9 Mark Mitchell leads the Tigers in scoring with 17.4 points per game.
“To beat Florida and Kentucky in your first two, that’s a statement right there,” Pearl said. “Coach (Dennis) Gates has done a really good job in his four seasons there. They have tremendous size.
That will pose a challenge to us. Another great opportunity against a really good team.”
Seeking a second straight SEC win, Auburn (10-6, 1-2) plays at Missouri (12-4, 2-1) Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT in Mizzou Arena on ESPN2 and the Auburn Sports Network. Auburn returns to Neville Arena Saturday at 5 p.m. CT to play South Carolina in the Nothing But Neon game that will include free neon t-shirts for Auburn University students.
“We’re playing good basketball right now and it’s all because we’ve been really intentional with what we’ve been doing in practice,” Pearl said. “We’ve got to keep that up.”
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer