In a battle of Tigers on Tuesday night, Missouri and host Auburn will meet three days after each had very different outcomes to their Southeastern Conference games.
Both squads are tied for fourth place — along with Kentucky — at 7-5 in the SEC as the calendar turns to the final third of games. The meeting will be the only one between the schools.
For Missouri (19-6), it will be hard to top what transpired at Tennessee over the weekend.
Trailing the Volunteers 85-83 with 4.2 seconds left, DeAndre Gholston sank a 35-foot heave for his second buzzer-beater this season. He also banked in a shot from similar distance to beat UCF on Dec. 17. The basket handed the Volunteers their second loss of the week on a last-second shot.
“I knew Dre wasn’t going to pass,” said Missouri coach Dennis Gates. “I’m proud we were able to execute under adverse situations.”
Kobe Brown topped his club with 21 points as Missouri was triumphant for the fifth time in its past six outings.
Auburn (17-8), however, did not fare as well down the stretch in its packed home arena when then-No. 3 Alabama came to town.
Coach Bruce Pearl’s Tigers were knotted with their archrival at 62-all with six minutes left, but the Crimson Tide outscored Auburn by eight points until the final buzzer, earning a 77-69 win and moving to 12-0 in the SEC.
Alabama remained the only Power 5 program without a league loss, but Pearl said his club gave its best shot against the visitors.
“Our team is playing good basketball right now,” Pearl said. “We’re playing well. We’re just not playing well enough to beat the best team in the country.”
Auburn and Missouri have met just 12 times since the 2012-13 season, with Auburn earning the recent success. The teams have split the dozen meetings, but Auburn has five victories in the past six encounters, including the past two.
However, Pearl’s struggling team has dropped three straight games and five of the past six overall.
–Field Level Media
