Auburn rolled over Missouri behind Johni Broome’s 24 points
Missouri men’s basketball fell to 11-3 (0-1 SEC) this season after losing against No. 2 Auburn (13-1, 1-0 SEC) to begin conference play. Missouri lost 84-68, failing to stop Auburn forward Johni Broome who scored 24 points on 69.2% shooting.
Missouri held one lead in the game at 7-6 with 16:17 left in the first half. Auburn began to heat up in the first half, taking a double-figure lead with 8:45 to go, never letting Missouri back within single-digits.
Few Missouri players could get their offense going with only one player scoring double digits. Marques Warrick had 19 points on five-for-eight shooting and had seven points at the free-throw line. This was Warrick’s season-high in points as a Tiger.
Missouri shot 20% from three to Auburn’s 53.8% in the first half, with seven different Auburn players making a three in the half. Missouri improved marginally in the second half shooting 38.5% from three, but Auburn remained consistent for the whole game by shooting 57.1% from the field for the game.
Missouri was down 12 at the half, but allowed a 12-1 Auburn run to open the second half. They trailed at most by 26 in the game with all Missouri starters playing less than seven minutes in the second half.
Auburn had five players in double-figure scoring with Broome leading the way. Broome also grabbed seven rebounds and blocked four shots to continue his stellar senior season.
Many of Missouri’s key contributors struggled against the No. 2 Auburn Tigers. Anthony Robinson ll and Caleb Grill went scoreless in their combined 28 minutes of play. Mark Mitchell and Tamar Bates shot a combined five-for-18 from the floor and both finished -20.
Missouri’s bench continued to be involved, scoring 47 points to Auburn’s 29. The issue came as Missouri’s starters lacked the production to match Auburn.
Missouri returned home for two games with their first game against LSU at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at Mizzou Arena.
Edited by Dylan Heinrich | dheinrich@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Emma Short | eshort@themaneater.com
Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com