Auburn basketball game recap: Texas A&M Aggies

Well… that blew. I’m gonna sound like a broken record here. Auburn basketball had a chance to win a game and looked like a JV team in the final minute. Texas A&M looked the part of a tournament team. Final score 83-78 in favor of the Aggies.

What was once a promising start to the game quickly divulged into a back and forth affair. Let’s talk about it, and try not to reach for the booze along the way.

Auburn basketball vs TAMU First Half

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Auburn started out guns ablaze.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one too: Auburn was the better team on the stat sheet.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one as well: Auburn was the better team from a personnel standpoint.

If at any point you found yourself agreeing with me, you might be an Auburn basketball fan. Auburn started out hot and looked like a better team than Texas A&M. That’s because they are more talented than Texas A&M.

What began as a hot start did not stay that way. A&M clawed their way back to even and the game stayed that way going into the break.

Auburn basketball vs TAMU Second Half

Once again, Auburn pushed this lead to nearly double digits. And once again, the starters came out and the bench couldn’t maintain the lead. By the time the starters returned, the Aggie faithful had gotten their energy back.

And that’s all she wrote. That’s the ballgame. Aggies win.

Auburn basketball moving forward

At some point, and this can’t be taken lightly, Bruce Pearl has to start using some shifts. The Golden State Warriors did it brilliantly in the Kevin Durant era. Steph would play the entire 1st and 3rd quarters alongside Draymond, while KD and Klay would play the entirety of the 2nd and 4th quarters. In quarters each player didn’t play the entirety of, they would rest for the first six minutes before reentering the game. This ensured that two of the four All-NBA players were on the court for all 48 minutes.

Doing so in a manner where Wendell Green Jr. and Johni Broome play the first ten, followed by five off, then five in, and then Jaylin Williams and Allen Flanigan playing five, resting five, then playing ten, would allow for multiple starters to play every minute of the game.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier. The VERY GOOD Alabama Crimson Tide come to town on Saturday. If you want, prime yourself for SEC competition by going to the Auburn-LSU gymnastics meet. In the meantime, War Eagle.