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Auburn Basketball: Texas A&M Hands Tigers Third Straight SEC Loss

By Nicholas Ian Allen

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The Auburn basketball won nine of their first ten games at home under new head coach Bruce Pearl, but have now lost two in a row at Auburn Arena and three straight overall following a 71-61 defeat at the hands of Texas A&M.

At Auburn Arena, the student section was packed well before tipoff, but the rest of the crowd was lacking.

On the SEC Network, the production team made a point to mention the improved atmosphere the Tigers have had this season, and especially the impact The Jungle has made in terms of a home court advantage.

However, with a 71-61 loss to Texas A&M Tuesday, Auburn has now lost two straight at home after winning nine of their first ten.

The Aggies jumped out to an 8-0 lead and stretched it to 15-4 with 13 points coming from Danuel House on four three-pointers. House had 15 points in the first half and finished with 22 including a 6-for-7 performance from beyond the three-point line.

Tahj Shamsid-Deen provided a spark of energy off the bench and scored five of the Tigers’ first eight points. The sophomore guard used some fancy dribbling to make a Texas A&M defender look silly and fall down before Shamsid-Deen nailed a wide open three.

Unfortunately, Shamsid-Deen re-injured his right shoulder later in the first half and had to go to the locker room for observation. He did not return to the game but joined his teammates on the bench in the second half.

Auburn fought back and pulled to within one point at 25-24 with 5:30 remaining before halftime, but it was as close as they would get. A 9-3 run – including a wide open layup as the final seconds ticked off – gave Texas A&M a 34-27 lead heading into the locker room.

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Wide open layups were something the Tigers allowed far too often.

Texas A&M used a lot of back screen and backdoor cuts to slice up the Auburn defense. Alex Caruso led the Aggies with five assists, many of them leading to incredibly easy buckets that made it difficult for the Tigers to climb back into contention in the second half. Texas A&M finished the game with 13 assists – Auburn had seven.

Cinmeon Bowers had 11 points and four rebounds in the first half and knocked down six of his eight free throw attempts in the game’s first 20 minutes. He finished with 14 points and eight boards, and a far better than average 7-for-10 performance from the charity stripe. Bowers came into the game with a free throw percentage below 50%.

As usual, Bowers led the Tigers in rebounds – he leads the league, after all – but Texas A&M dominated the boards most of the game. The Aggies held a 36-29 overall rebounding edge including a 13-11 mark on the offensive glass, but early in the second half, A&M led the category 25-14 overall and 10-4 on the offensive end.

Antoine Mason had nine points in the first half and finished with 16, but K.T. Harrell – the SEC’s second-leading scorer – was held scoreless in the first half. Harrell had 11 points in the second half, but it was too little, too late for the Tigers.

With the loss, the Auburn basketball team is now 10-10 overall and just 2-5 in SEC play. The Tigers travel to Knoxville Saturday for Pearl’s first matchup against his former team – the Tennessee Volunteers.

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