AUBURN, Ala. – Its NCAA Tournament aspirations buoyed by Saturday’s dramatic come-from-behind win over Kentucky, Auburn looks to further solidify its postseason resume Tuesday at Oklahoma with an NCAA-leading 16th Quad-1 game this season.
“Getting that win lightened our shoulders a little bit but we’re still hungry, we’re still desperate,” freshman Sebastian Williams-Adams said. “We still know we have to play our way into the tournament. That’s our only goal right now. We know we’re at our best when we’re playing desperately.”
It’s a quick turnaround for the Tigers, who left Auburn Monday afternoon, fewer than 48 hours after tipping off against Kentucky, putting a premium on recovery and preparation for the Sooners.
“The SEC is not somewhere where you can just show up and expect to win the game,” Williams-Adams said. “For the rest of the season, we’re playing for our tournament hopes. That’s been our main focus.”
The Sooners have struggled to finish games this season, but Oklahoma earned back-to-back wins this month over No. 25 Vanderbilt and Georgia, beating the Commodores in Nashville to stop a nine-game losing streak.
“This is an incredibly dangerous team,” Auburn coach Steven Pearl said. “They’ve had double-digit leads against a lot of teams in our league and have leads late in games. They are more than capable. They’re one of the top offenses in our league and in the country. They play hard as heck defensively.
“They’re still playing with a ton of effort and energy. It’s a team that plays well at home (9-5). Incredibly dangerous opponent and they have our full attention.”
A Sooner sharpshooter, Nijel Pack leads the SEC and ranks No. 10 nationally, making 44.1 percent of his 3-point attempts while leading Oklahoma in scoring with 15.7 points per game.
“They have a ton of games with double-digit makes,” Pearl said. “They’ve got multiple guys who can really shoot it. We’ve got to do a great job understanding who we’re guarding. We have to have great closeouts in this game and do a great job of contesting shots.”
Visiting Lloyd Nobles Center for the first time in program history, Auburn (15-12, 6-8) plays at Oklahoma (13-14, 3-11) Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT on ESPNU and the Auburn Sports Network, where Andy Burcham and Randall Dickey will describe the action for listeners.
The Tigers return to Neville Arena Saturday to host Ole Miss at 7:30 p.m. CT. Standing on Business T-shirts will be given out to Auburn University students at the game.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer