Will Auburn Basketball Win Another Game This Season?

As the losses keep piling up and the injuries and off-the-court issues get more and more impactful, it’s worth asking the question officially: will Auburn will another game this season? Even with the early injuries, Auburn was still playing well at home and got big wins over Kentucky and Alabama, but since then it’s been all down hill – and down hill fast.

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Over the past few games, Auburn has been shooting worse and worse. The Tigers have shot for a season low percentage from the field in each of their last three games, and have only scored 100 total points in their last two games. This all comes in a 6-game losing streak and a conference schedule in which Auburn hasn’t been able to win a single road game.

Before I started to write out my own thoughts on the question, I wanted to see what others thought. I posted a simple Twitter poll asking the straightforward question:

The results weren’t very good. The majority of people don’t believe that the Tigers will be able to get their 10th win of the season, and they have every right to believe that. Based on what we’ve seen over the last few games, Auburn wouldn’t be able to beat many teams in the country with these performances.

While Auburn has looked really, really bad in the last few games, I think I’ll have to side with the people that answered yes in the poll. To preface, each of my opinions are based on Auburn playing without Dunans, Canty, and Purifoy for the rest of the season. That being said, I still think Auburn will be able to pick up at least one more win. It won’t be easy and I’m not very confident, but based on our issues and Bruce’s ability to get players to play, I think we can pull one more off.

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Looking at the remaining schedule, Auburn has 3-4 more winnable games. In order of likeliness for a win, Auburn plays: Ole Miss at home, Georgia at home, Mississippi State on the road, and Alabama on the road.

Auburn kept it close with Georgia on the road and even had a halftime lead against Ole Miss earlier in the season. Even without Canty, Auburn could possibly take down either of these teams if they can have a decent defensive performance with the slight help of a small home court advantage. Ole Miss has been an up and down team all year, and even a team like Auburn could pull one off against the Rebels.

For Mississippi State, they’re starting to get better towards the end, which doesn’t help Auburn’s chances of a win. However, they’ve been one of the bottom two teams all year long and the Hump isn’t the most intimidating place to play. Auburn will have to play Mississippi State on their senior day, but there’s a chance Auburn can play spoiler to the big day. It would be big for Bruce to get a win right before the SEC Tournament as well as his first win over Ben Howland before the two coaches begin an inevitable rivalry in the SEC over the next few years.

Lastly, is Alabama. This pick is more of wishful thinking, but also not totally

crazy. Auburn has already beaten Alabama once this season. While that game can be credited to a big home court advantage, Auburn and Alabama have proven that home court doesn’t always mean a lot in this rivalry. Coleman Coliseum, before this season, hasn’t been a daunting task for Auburn at all times. I still think Alabama wins this game, but if Cinmeon Bowers can have another big game against the Crimson Tide, an Auburn win isn’t completely impossible.

For Auburn to win any game this season, they’ll have to continue to improve their ball movement on offense and the few signs of good defense we’ve seen lately needs to stick around. Auburn has found a few open shots over the past few games, but the Tigers just haven’t been able to knock them down.

I don’t think Auburn will be able to be the sharpshooting three-point team that they were early in the season without Kareem Canty, but if the Tigers can just shoot better than 35-40 percent in a game this season they should be able to score enough points to keep a game close.

I’m telling myself Auburn will win at least one more game this season partially to keep myself interested for the rest of the way, but also because I still have a little bit of faith in this team. I think we’ll see the offense partially return at some point, and the Tigers will be able to get their fourth conference win and 10th win on the season before it’s all said and done.