A Tale of Two Halves as Auburn Routs Missouri 92-58

If you tuned into this bad boy after seeing Missouri was down just three to Auburn at half, expecting a nice, close game... boy, that’s tough.

There’s sights for sore eyes, and there’s the polar opposite: the second half of Missouri’s 92-58 loss to Auburn Wednesday night.

Auburn came into this game leading the SEC in three-pointers made per game, with an offense that’s strongly dictated by a quicker pace. Missouri countered everything the Other Tigers like doing in the first 20 of this one, holding them to 5-for-21 from deep (23.8%) and playing a slower overall game.

Missouri found itself down 34-31 at halftime, and with Jeremiah Tilmon (8 pts) and Torrence Watson (10 pts) leading the charge, it looked like the Tigers could pick up a crucial road win against a team that was ranked just a week ago.

Missouri’s offense was non-existent and Auburn torched the nets on the other end in the second half, as this one wasn’t even close for the final 15 minutes. Auburn outscored Missouri 58-27 in the final 20 minutes of play, shooting 11-of-20 from beyond the arc. On the contrary, Missouri shot just 9-for-28 from the field and 2-for-9 from three in the same amount of time.

One lone bright spot for Missouri, who’s lost six of its last seven, was Tilmon. Wednesday night was a testament to how dominant he can be when he’s not in foul trouble and can just worry about playing his game.

The sophomore big man scored 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, all while snagging five boards. What may be Tilmon’s most impressive stat on the night, though? One foul — a foul which came 1:48 into the game.

He showed his dominance of Auburn’s big men all game, proving how valuable he is to this team’s offensive success. But when your team turns the ball over 20 times and gives up open three after open three, there’s only so much you can do.

Tilmon and Missouri look to turn things around when they return home Saturday to take on Vanderbilt.