While Auburn still walked away with the win over Arkansas on Wednesday night, that doesn't mean head coach Bruce Pearl was happy about the way his team played. The Tigers only walked away with a 67-60 win over the Razorbacks, a team that has had its struggles this season under head coach John Calipari.
The Tigers shot just 4-for-24 from beyond the three-point line, giving them a whopping 16.7 shooting percentage from deep. The good news is that Arkansas was even worse from three-point range shooting 15.8% from beyond the three-point line going 3-for-19.
Auburn did something they haven't done a lot this season, and that was turn the ball over as they had 12 turnovers and just 11 assists, which means the ball was not moving well on the court. Pearl certainly had words about his team's effort against the Razorbacks.
"Not a good effort, not a good offensive night for Auburn at all," Pearl said in his post-game press conference.
While the Tigers did hold Arkansas to just 60 points, the offense was nowhere near what we have seen this season from this team. Scoring just 67 points and shooting 40.3% from the floor is not the type of performance this Auburn team is used to putting out on the court.
"Our offense left a lot to be desired tonight, our execution wasn't very good," Pearl said. "I don't think our shot selection was great. When you only have 11 assists and 12 turnovers -- I don't think we shared it as well as we have been, but our guys competed."
While the offense struggles and Pearl certainly had things to say on that, he did give praise to the stellar defense that held the Razorbacks to 60 points. On defense, the Tigers had seven steals, 29 rebounds, and two blocks. Auburn out-rebounded Arkansas 42-29, a key impact to the game.
While Pearl might not have been happy with the effort of his guys against Arkansas, they were able to get away with a win. The bench certainly was a highlight for the Tigers as Chad Baker-Mazara has 15 points on the bench and Chaney Johnson had 14. Johni Broome still led in scoring with 16 points, but two bench players in double figures is certainly something to be happy about.
The Tigers still sit at the top of the AP rankings and at the top of the SEC as the final weeks of the regular season loom. Auburn will have a quick turnaround as they prepare to welcome the Georgia Bulldogs for a weekend matchup on Saturday, February 22 at 4:00 p.m. EST on ESPN.