The SEC on Tuesday once again showed off its depth of quality teams — at the expense of its top team.
Bruce Pearl, Johni Broome and No. 1 Auburn (27-3, 15-2 in SEC play) entered Tuesday’s game vs. Texas A&M already in possession of the SEC regular-season championship and a strong claim for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. That mattered to Buzz Williams and his 21st-ranked Aggies (21-9, 10-7 SEC), who handed the Tigers an 83-72 defeat at College Station’s Reed Arena — their worst loss all year.
Texas A&M, which is also looking to improve its own seeding ahead of the NCAA Tournament, jumped out to a 7-0 lead over the visiting Tigers and never looked back. The Aggies never trailed in the home win over Auburn, with the Tigers only getting within one possession of Texas A&M.
Texas A&M had five players score in the double digits in the win, led by Zhuric Phelps’ 19 points off the bench. Andersson Garcia also turned in a monster double-double performance with 11 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block in the victory.
Conversely, Broome, a national player of the year candidate, finished with eight points on 4-of-9 shooting, adding seven rebounds and two assists in the defeat. Chad Baker-Mazara and Tahaad Pettiford finished with 15 and 19 points in the loss, respectively.
Auburn had only 10 points off the bench, compared to 36 for the Aggies. While Auburn out-shot Texas A&M from the field (50% to 43.1%) and 3-point range (40.9% to 36.0%), the Aggies had two key advantages. The first was in rebounds (41-25), including a 24-9 advantage in offensive boards. The Aggies also made more plays off Auburn’s 13 turnovers, scoring 18 points off turnovers to the Tigers’ 11.
‘The things that they do bother us a little bit,’ Pearl said after the game.
He added that Texas A&M ‘physically dominated us.’
The loss marks only the third defeat all season for Pearl and Auburn, which lost on the road at what was then a No. 9-ranked Duke team and at home vs. No. 6 Florida. This is the Tigers’ first defeat by a team outside the top 10 all season, and the first by double-digit points.
Though it likely will matter little for March Madness seeding — and not at all for the men’s SEC tournament seeding — the loss comes as a stark reminder to Auburn and objective observers alike that anyone can beat anyone in March.
Even the top team in the country.
This story was updated with new information.
