Auburn dropped a non-conference home game on Friday for the first time in more than a decade, falling 80-69 to No. 12 Arizona at Neville Arena.
The loss ended the nation’s longest active streak of consecutive non-conference home victories at 69 games. Auburn had not dropped a home contest outside of SEC play since a loss to Oklahoma State on Jan. 30, 2016, according to the Auburn Tigers Official Athletics Website.
Arizona used a decisive 9-0 run late in the second half to seize control after Auburn had erased a 14-point deficit to take the lead. Freshman Caleb Holt led all scorers with 24 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats, while 7-footer Motiejus Krivas added 16 points and 12 assists.
“They were better tonight. The crowd was incredible; student section was incredible, environment was phenomenal. Very appreciative for that,” Auburn coach Steven Pearl said, as reported by the Auburn Tigers Official Athletics Website.
Thomas Dowd paced the Tigers with 15 points and nine rebounds, hitting 4-of-5 shots from beyond the arc. Adam Olsen contributed 12 points, hitting three 3-pointers, but the rest of the Auburn roster struggled from long range by converting only 4-of-18 attempts.
Down by four at the break, the Tigers failed to convert any of their initial five field-goal attempts after intermission as the Wildcats reeled off 10 unanswered points to extend their advantage to 14.
An Auburn response materialized when Kevin Overton and Olsen both connected from beyond the arc during a 6-0 burst that narrowed the deficit to six before Caleb Holt answered with his fourth triple to stretch Arizona’s margin back to nine. Shortly afterward, a 7-0 Auburn surge concluded when George Kimble III hit a 3-pointer that brought the Tigers within 51-48 with 12:41 remaining.
“Our bench did a great job of coming in and giving us real life and real lift,” Pearl said. “They battled. Those guys played within themselves and did a lot of good things for us and allowed us to get back in the game.”
During the ensuing four minutes, the advantage shifted back and forth six times until Dowd sank his fourth long-range shot to give Auburn a 58-57 edge with 7:46 left on the clock. Following an Arizona basket inside, Olsen converted all three of his foul shots to put the Tigers ahead by two with 7:12 to go.
A surge of nine straight points by the Wildcats—consisting of three layups and a 3-pointer executed over the course of one minute and 39 seconds—anchored a stretch of seven consecutive made field goals that permanently restored the visitor advantage.
Olsen halted the 9-0 surge with a triple that sliced the margin to four points with five minutes remaining, though the Tigers failed to draw any closer the rest of the way.
Protecting the rim in the opening period, Narcisse Ngoy rejected five shots as part of Auburn’s nine first-half blocks, while Overton tallied four of the squad’s seven steals over the initial 20 minutes.
“We have to find a way to execute better offensively. Too many bad shots that led to a lot of misses. Offensively, we have to be better. Defensively, our guys played with a ton of effort in the first half. Early in the second half, they got us on a couple backdoors.” Pearl said.
Next week, a 2-1 Auburn squad travels to Nevada for a grueling stretch of three contests in as many days during the Players Era festival, starting at 11 p.m. CT on Tuesday against West Virginia with coverage on ESPN and the Auburn Sports Network.
