The Auburn Tigers are officially on pace for a two-day bye in the SEC Tournament.
Bruce Pearl’s squad took care of business on the road at Missouri on Tuesday night by handing Mizzou its 17th-straight SEC loss.
The home team gave Auburn all it could handle in the first half thanks to some solid play by stars Sean East II and Nick Honor, but a quick start to the second half from [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag] and the away Tigers gave Auburn some much-needed breathing room.
Broome ended up second among Auburn scorers with 15 points in the win, while front-court mate Jaylin Williams provided his best output since returning from injury a week ago by scoring a team-high 17 points on an efficient 6/8 from the field.
Guard [autotag]Chad Baker-Mazara[/autotag] was also a star once again. Interestingly, the junior played a team-high 28 minutes in the win. It looks like head coach Bruce Pearl is trusting his most electric stat-stuffing guard to soak up the minutes lost with [autotag]Lior Berman[/autotag] out for the season.
Auburn’s win was heavily expected, but it is still worth commending nonetheless. The Tigers now control their own destiny in the hunt for a top 4 seed in the SEC Tournament when they finish the season at Neville Arena on Saturday against Georgia.
As for Missouri, the Tigers nightmare regular season will come to a close in Baton Rouge on Saturday. They’ll have to run the table in Nashville against higher seeds if they want to make it back to the NCAA Tournament.
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