After Saturday’s ugly 60-49 loss to the Texas A&M Aggies, senior forward Jordan Barnett said the Tigers needed to bring more energy if they wanted to beat the No. 19 Auburn Tigers on Wednesday night.

Unfortunately for Barnett’s Tigers, that simply didn’t happen.

Once again, Missouri failed to show up when it mattered, limping down the stretch to a 91-73 defeat at the hands of Auburn at Mizzou Arena.

After Missouri went on an 8-0 run to bring the game within 1 with 14:22 remaining, Auburn exploded, going on a 20-2 run over 4:52 to put the game out of reach.

Barnett said Missouri simply couldn’t stop the bleeding.

“We completely lost control,” Barnett said. “It just all fell apart right there, and we’ve got to find a way to stick with it.”

Missouri (13-7, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) turned the ball over 20 times in the loss, struggling most of the night against an Auburn defense that took every opportunity to force Missouri’s big men to dribble the basketball and pressured the Tigers’ guards into a combined 11 turnovers.

Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin said he was unhappy with his team’s performance in virtually every aspect of the contest.

“We didn’t play well; we didn’t defend at the level [we needed to],” Martin said. “We have to defend … we can’t afford to take days off defensively. They out-toughed us.”
Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said his team made it a priority to put pressure on the ball and prevent Missouri from getting the ball inside.

“The game plan was to get out there and extend,” Pearl said. “We made it hard for them to get it [inside], and when they got it in there, we were active.”

Auburn took care to get freshman Jeremiah Tilmon into foul trouble, and it worked. Tilmon took zero shots, turned the ball over three times and played just seven minutes.

Tilmon’s foul trouble forced Missouri to turn to freshman Jontay Porter and sophomore Reed Nikko for much of the night. Both big men looked out of sorts, particularly on the offensive end, combining for 9 points on 3 of 8 shooting.

As a result of Missouri’s lackluster effort inside the paint and inability to get to loose balls for most of the night, Auburn recorded 21 second-chance points to Missouri’s 8 despite being outrebounded 41-30.

Pearl said his team’s gritty effort on the offensive side of the floor has come to define its run into sole possession of first place in the SEC.

“We play hard, but we also play with energy,” Pearl said. “Offensively, defensively, we rely on each other. [Tonight], we did a really good job on creating offense from our defense, and I think that was the difference in the game.”

Missouri’s defense was also uncharacteristically bad, as the team gave up its most points in a single game this season. Auburn shot 44 percent from the field and the 3-point line, as well as 23 of 26 from the free-throw line. Missouri’s closeouts were generally a second too late, especially against Auburn’s Jared Harper, who had 21 points and made 5 of his 7 attempts from beyond the arc.

One bright spot for Missouri was the play of junior guard Jordan Geist. Although he fouled out and turned the ball over three times, his 10 points in the first half helped keep the Tigers within striking distance of Auburn going into the second half. He finished with 12.

But Geist was not pleased with his performance and said he needs to take better care of the ball.

“When it comes down to it, I’ve just got to take my time, read the defense and get the ball where it needs to be,” Geist said.

Next up for Missouri will be a Saturday trip to Starkville, Mississippi, to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

_Edited by Bennett Durando | bdurando@themaneater.com_