Mizzou men lose SEC hoops opener at No. 2 Auburn: 'Took us too long to adjust'

Eli Hoff, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jan 4, 2025

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It only took one Saturday in the Southeastern Conference for Missouri men's basketball to learn the difference between good and great.

Mizzou has been good this season, even very good at moments. That dried up in the face of No. 2 Auburn, which has been great, played against great opponents and flexed that fact against MU during both teams' SEC openers.

Great beat not-so-good, and Auburn dominated Missouri for a 84-68 victory.

Auburn (13-1, 1-0 SEC) looked like the juggernaut it has been, shooting 48% from 3-point range to boost an offense that was already one of the best in the nation. Star power forward Johni Broome cruised to 24 points, adding seven rebounds and four blocks to his output.

Broome scored nine of those points within the first eight minutes of the game. MU seemed to dare him to make plays at times early on, like when it sent a double-team of guards to him on the right side of the floor. The AU vet stayed composed and passed the ball out to the left side, where Auburn got a 3-pointer and foul for a four-point play to go up 17-11 early.

It was at that point that Broome checked out of the game for a breather, sitting on the bench for more than five minutes of game time. That was Missouri's window to make a competitive statement and assert itself in the game.

Instead, a six-point Auburn lead grew to 12 without Broome on the floor.

“I thought the punches they threw in the first half put us on our heels," MU coach Dennis Gates said on the postgame radio broadcast. "It took us too long to adjust to that part of the game.”

The hosts led by a dozen at half, up 45-33. They were shooting well from the floor while the visitors weren't, but Auburn was mostly beating MU at its own game: scoring off of turnovers.

At halftime, Auburn had 14 points off of seven Missouri turnovers — incredibly efficient scoring. Mizzou, meanwhile, had only two points off five AU turnovers — far less production than what the black-and-gold Tigers need to compete with any team.

One sequence, with just under 5:40 to go in the first half, summed that dynamic up. MU forward Trent Pierce pulled down a rebound and looked to funnel it quickly down the floor, as the team generally looks to do when presented with a transition opportunity. Except Auburn intercepted the pass, sent it back in the other direction, and nailed a quick 3-pointer to counter Mizzou's up-tempo attack — 11 seconds after Pierce's board.

The second half didn't start any better for Mizzou, which opened the frame by giving up a 12-1 run to Auburn.

Those opening minutes of the second half sealed the outcome. When both teams had taken 12 shots — six apiece from 3-point range: Auburn was 6-12 from the field and 3-6 from beyond the arc for 17 points. Mizzou was 1-12 from the field and 0-6 from deep for three points.

Gates yanked his starters as the second half wore on with Auburn's lead swelling to as much as 26. Whether that was a load management decision or a coach trying to send a message to a group of players who hadn't performed like he needed them to, Gates' move worked.

“I thought their energy allowed us to do some things," Gates said. "They were unselfish when it comes down to their energy. They gave what they could give, and I’m proud of those guys.”

Missouri's reserves kept pace with Auburn through garbage time. Guard Marques Warrick led the operation at that point and wound up leading the visitors in scoring with 19 points — a season high.

No other Mizzou player scored more than nine points.

MU's starting lineup — Anthony Robinson II, Tony Perkins, Tamar Bates, Mark Mitchell and Josh Gray — combined for 21 points on 33% shooting from the field and seven rebounds. Broome alone scored more for Auburn and matched their rebounding output.

If there are positives to take away from a loss that wasn't particularly close, one is that Mizzou — notoriously not a successful team on the glass — out-rebounded Auburn. MU had a 31-29 rebounding percentage and 13 offensive boards to AU's six.

Missouri also covered a betting spread that favored Auburn by 18.5 points heading into the game. This kind of result was largely the expectation.

"It’s a tough conference," Gates said, "and obviously we’ve got to do a better job on our part to be prepared in these situations."

His program has now lost 21 consecutive games against SEC opponents, dating back to a March 11, 2023 loss to Alabama in the conference tournament.

After opening conference play in what might be the SEC's most difficult fashion possible, Mizzou will return to friendly confines for its next two league games, hosting Louisiana State and Vanderbilt on Tuesday and Saturday, respectively, next week. The Commodores beat LSU in Baton Rouge later on Saturday.

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