COLUMBIA, Mo. – Auburn placed four scorers in double figures, but Missouri hit nine 3-pointers to remain unbeaten at home, defeating Auburn 84-74 Wednesday at Mizzou Arena.
“I’ve got to do a better job of getting our guys into the right mindset,” Auburn coach Steven Pearl said. “We need some leadership on this team to step up. We’ve got to take advantage of every opportunity and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Kevin Overton and Elyjah Freeman each scored 13 points for Auburn, combining for five of the Tigers’ six 3-pointers on 11 shots from deep. The rest of the team was 1-for-10 from 3-point range.
Trailing 38-34 at halftime, Auburn struggled with turnovers in the second half, resulting in Missouri taking a double-digit lead.
“We let some bad offense affect our defense in the second half,” Pearl said. “It led to them getting a lot of uncontested layups or getting to the foul line.”
Down 13 with four minutes remaining, Auburn used a full-court press and seven free throws to cut Missouri’s lead to six points with two and a half minutes to go.
“We’ve got to stop putting ourselves in those situations,” Pearl said. “We’re a good pressing team when we’re in those tough situations but we don’t have the depth to do it for 40 minutes.”
Auburn forced a turnover with 2:07 to play and pulled within four points on Keyshawn Hall’s jumper, but Missouri beat the press for a 3-point play eight seconds later and steadily pulled away to improve to 11-0 at home.
Hall endured a rare off shooting night but still flirted with a triple double, scoring 10 points and leading Auburn with nine rebounds and seven assists.
Sebastian Williams-Adams made 4-of-5 field goals, including his only 3-point attempt, and went 3-for-3 from the free-throw line to total 12 points before fouling out in 19 minutes.
“He played really well in the minutes he played,” Pearl said. “He was plus-1 in 19. If he plays 30 minutes in this game, the outcome is different because he is so productive and so accountable for that. The first one was a clear foul but I thought he got a tough whistle as the game went on. He’s an energy boost and the guys feed off all the things he does.”
Filip Jovic continued his efficiency, going 4-for-4 from the field and scoring eight points while grabbing five rebounds in 22 minutes.
KeShawn Murphy narrowly missed a second consecutive double-double, contributing nine points and eight rebounds.
Jayden Stone led Missouri (13-4, 3-1) with 22 points. Mark Mitchell added 20, despite going 6 of 14 from the free-throw line.
Auburn got off to a promising start, using a 7-0 run to take a 12-5 lead after Freeman’s 3-pointer and dunk.
Missouri took control by making five 3-pointers in the final eight minutes of the half to lead by four at intermission.
“We let some distractions creep in and affect performance,” Pearl said. “It’s hard enough to win on the road. We can’t make it more difficult on ourselves like we did tonight.”
Auburn (10-7, 1-3) returns to the Plains Saturday to host South Carolina at 5 p.m. CT at Neville Arena in the Nothing But Neon game that will include free neon t-shirts for Auburn University students.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer