COLUMBIA, Mo. — Johni Broome had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead five players in double figures as No. 13 Auburn beat last-place Missouri 101-74 on Tuesday night.
Chad Baker-Mazara added 15 points and seven boards for Auburn (23-7, 12-5 Southeastern Conference), which led nearly the entire way against a struggling Missouri program that's winless in league play. Jaylin Williams also scored 15.
"You have to give Missouri credit. Most teams without the culture, the character of Missouri and their coaching staff, would have packed it in a long time ago," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “I thought that our defense turned up in the second half. I thought we played more unselfishly offensively in the second half.”
Auburn matched a season high for points in an SEC game, equaling its total in a 101-61 victory over South Carolina on Feb. 14. Auburn scored a season-best 104 points in a Dec. 9 win over Indiana.
Auburn dominated the glass, outrebounding Missouri 41-28 and holding a 22-7 advantage in second-chance points.
Sean East II led Missouri (8-22, 0-17) with 21 points and Tamar Bates added 12, all in the first half. Aidan Shaw tied his career high with nine rebounds.
“Auburn is definitely a great team,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “I think this is probably, again, a very, very good team that can make it a far, far distance in the NCAA Tournament. I have respect for what they’ve done in the past, but that second half for us, we came out a little flat. I take full responsibility in that as the head coach.”
Auburn opened the second half with a 10-2 run and outscored Missouri 57-35 over the final 20 minutes to improve to 12-0 this season when putting up at least 85 points.
“We’re getting really good looks,” Pearl said. “The difference in the second half was spacing, sharing the ball, and obviously Missouri was a little fatigued. It’s hard to score early in games when the opponent is fresh and furious."
Missouri trailed 44-39 at halftime after holding Auburn to 2-of-14 shooting from behind the three-point arc while converting 15 of 16 free throws.
BIG PICTURE
Auburn: The Tigers remain mathematically alive for at least a share of the SEC regular-season title. Auburn’s 12 SEC wins are tied for the fifth-most in program history, and its 23 wins on the season are the seventh-most in school history.
“We talked about playing for seeding,” Pearl said. “What I focused all week on was, right now we’re probably a four seed in the NCAA Tournament, not a bad spot. Three would be better. Five or six would not be near as good. So, I wanted our guys to understand, look, we lose this game here, we’re a five. We lose another game later on, we're a six.”
Missouri: The Tigers need a win at LSU on Saturday to avoid going winless in conference play for the first time since finishing 0-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference during the 1907-08 season.
“I think our guys give their very best regardless of the outcome,” Gates said. “The circumstance that we have had is a different circumstance than probably, I don’t know if coaches have ever had in 20-plus years of coaching, whether they’ve been head coach for 20 years, 20 years as an assistant, have gone through five in-season surgeries and mostly guys in the same position. I think those things you have to take account for, but I’m not setting an excuse for anything.”
UP NEXT
Auburn: Will host Georgia on Saturday night.
Missouri: Plays at LSU on Saturday night.
