Auburn’s result Tuesday night, in the aftermath of an emotional loss to Alabama over the weekend, was the definition of a hangover performance.
The Tigers’ losing streak lengthened to three games, as their offense struggled mightily in an 84-76 defeat to Vanderbilt — the program’s first home loss to the Commodores in nine years.
Here are Auburn Undercover’s instant impressions, as the Tigers are back to a losing SEC record in league play at 5-6, having lost three straight immediately following a four-game winning streak just a couple weeks ago.
AUBURN’S RALLY FALLS SHORT
After trailing by as many as 15 in the second half, Auburn brought Vanderbilt’s lead down to single digits multiple times in the second half but couldn’t keep it there — until getting a couple stops inside five minutes to play, bringing it to a 6-point game with 4:20 left. That was the closest Auburn had been since the 3:54 mark of the first half.
Tahaad Pettiford scored a running layup, then KeShawn Murphy made a great pass to Kevin Overton for an easy layup to make it 68-62.
Auburn got another stop — Vanderbilt missed five of its last seven shots in the game — and Pettiford raced down the floor for another layup to bring the lead down to 4.
But after Tyler Tanner’s two free throws, Pettiford couldn’t hit a fadeaway jumper, Vanderbilt’s AK Okereke hit a 3-pointer in the corner and Steven Pearl was hit with a technical foul — leading to two free throws by Tanner — the Commodores’ 10-point lead inside two minutes left was too much to overcome.
AUBURN’S OFFENSE LOOKS LIKE A SHELL OF ITSELF
Everything looked like it was moving in slow motion for Auburn’s offense.
In a discouraging performance on their home floor, it was the Tigers’ scoring that doomed them. Auburn shot 40 percent from the floor and struggled mightily to score the ball around the basket.
Amid a brutal stretch on both ends of the floor, Vanderbilt led by as many as 11 points late in the first half. Auburn had tied the game with 6:03 left before the Tigers began having some rough execution, particularly on offense.
Keyshawn Hall scored 10 points in just over three minutes to help the Tigers stay in it, and Kevin Overton made two 3-pointers, but Auburn struggled to keep up anything consistent scoring the ball.
The Tigers’ defense wasn’t good, either, but its offense hadn’t looked that bad in a while, shooting just 32 percent in the first half with six turnovers. Auburn shot 5-of-10 from deep in the first half but wasn’t able to get much of anything else. Vanderbilt isn’t the biggest, most physical team in the SEC, but the Tigers really struggled to convert around the basket, making just 1-of-10 shots at the rim in the first half.
Auburn was met with multiple black jerseys seemingly every time it went to the rim, and as a result, the Tigers were just 17-of-43 shooting from 2-point range in the game.
Most everything the Tigers tried was stymied, and when the halfcourt offense was stalling, the Tigers couldn’t get out and run, either. They totaled just 5 fastbreak points for the entire game.
Pettiford did his best to keep Auburn going, attacking and attempting to give the Tigers some life. He scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half.
TIGERS HOLD UP AGAINST ELITE COMMODORES SHOOTING
Already the fifth top-15 KenPom offense that Auburn has seen this season in SEC play, Vanderbilt came out of the gates making seven of its first 11 shots and were 6-of-13 from downtown in the first half, including a couple shots that were wide open after Auburn got lost on baseline inbounds plays.
Vanderbilt shot close to or better than 60 percent for the majority of the first half.
It wasn’t just the outside shooting, though. Vanderbilt scored 34 points in the paint. Jalen Washington was a big problem for Auburn on the interior, scoring 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
Auburn committed five fouls in the second half before the under-16 timeout, as Vanderbilt built its lead as large as 15 points, and the Neville Arena crowd boisterously expressed its displeasure with the officiating.
The Commodores’ percentages came down in the second half, though, as many of their open 3s simply missed. As bad as things were for Auburn on Tuesday night, they probably would have been a lot worse had Vanderbilt just hit a few more of its open shots.
Even when Vanderbilt hit a lull in the second half and Auburn’s defense seemed to find some footing, a technical foul on Hall gave the Commodores a 4-point possession, all from free throws. Hall was hit with the technical with 14:53 left to play and did not check back in.
Auburn brought the lead down to 8 points before the under-8 timeout of the second half, but Vanderbilt point guard Tyler Tanner nailed a deep 3-pointer late in the shot clock and shushed the crowd.
MVP: TYLER TANNER
Pearl said this week that slowing down Tyler Tanner was the top priority for Auburn, and the sophomore point guard proceeded to have his fingerprints all over Vanderbilt’s win.
Including a big 3-pointer to cut into Auburn’s attempt at a run in the second half, Tanner scored a game-high 25 points, but was arguably more effective orchestrating Vanderbilt’s offense to the tune of six assists.
Tanner also went 9-of-10 from the foul line in the final three minutes of the game and dished the assist for Vanderbilt’s late 3-pointer that felt like the dagger.
UP NEXT
Auburn has a tough task on the road against another ranked SEC team Saturday: No. 21 Arkansas, in a rematch of the Tigers’ 95-73 win in Neville Arena last month.
Auburn then heads to Mississippi State next Wednesday before hosting No. 25 Kentucky.
Auburn Undercover will update this story.
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