Auburn University’s men’s basketball team lost 84-76 to No. 19 Vanderbilt at Neville Arena on Tuesday night, despite a late comeback attempt. Auburn coach Steven Pearl acknowledged Vanderbilt’s strong performance and the support from fans.
“Credit to Vanderbilt. They did a great job. Played really well early tonight,” Pearl said. “We had a great environment tonight again. I want to continue to thank our fans for hanging in there with this team as we’re trying to work through some things. They did their part, we didn’t do ours. For that, I apologize. I’ve got to do a better job as their coach in these situations.”
Tahaad Pettiford led Auburn’s starters with 21 points and four assists. Pearl praised Pettiford’s effort: “He really battled tonight,” Pearl said. “He put in a great effort. That’s something we’re going to need from him moving forward. He did our best job of getting downhill and finishing at the rim.”
Keyhawn Hall scored 13 points, KeShawn Murphy added 12, Sebastian Williams-Adams had 11, and Kevin Overton contributed 10 points for Auburn.
Elyjah Freeman collected eight rebounds off the bench, helping Auburn outrebound Vanderbilt by nine (36-27). The Tigers committed only eight turnovers during the game—marking the tenth time this season they have kept turnovers in single digits.
Vanderbilt missed its first seven three-point attempts of the second half before Tyler Tanner made his only three-pointer of the game, extending their lead by double digits.
Despite trailing by as many as 15 points early in the second half, Auburn cut into Vanderbilt’s lead several times but could not overtake them down the stretch.
“The last eight minutes, the group we had out there did a great job of fighting back,” Pearl said. “(Vanderbilt) did a great job executing down the stretch. Another disappointing result.”
Vanderbilt’s Jalen Washington scored 22 points and secured an important offensive rebound late in the game that helped maintain their advantage.
Tyler Tanner led all scorers with 25 points for Vanderbilt and was instrumental during key moments late in the contest when he drew fouls and converted free throws.
“It’s such an incredible environment and a hard place to play,” said Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington, whose team made 22 of 25 free throws in the second half. “To be able to win here, I’m really proud of the guys. That Auburn team is difficult to stop and they have so many threats. In this building, they play at a high level. We knew Auburn was going to fight back. We wanted to take away the uncontested layup.”
Midway through the first half, Hall gave Auburn its only lead after hitting two three-pointers and making two free throws.
“I thought we should have gotten to the foul line more in the first half, based on how aggressive we were attacking downhill,” Pearl said.
After tying at 26-26 with just over six minutes left before halftime, Auburn was outscored by Vanderbilt for a halftime deficit of eleven points (42-31). Devin McGlockton and Washington combined for most of Vanderbilt’s first-half scoring efficiency inside and outside.
“My big guys played really well today,” Byington said. “Those guys stepped up.”
Auburn will next face No. 21 Arkansas on Saturday evening before returning home later this month for its annual AUTLIVE Cancer game against Kentucky.
“We continue to have great opportunities in front of us,” Pearl said. “We’ve got to find a way to improve. While the results haven’t been there, this team continues to get better. We’ve got to trust what we’re doing but we’ve also got to tweak things we’re doing defensively.”
“We’ve got to find a way to steal a couple on the road and then try to protect home court later in the season. The only way we’re going to do that is if we refocus and come back ready to go (at practice) on Thursday.”
Tuesday marked Neville Arena’s eighty-second consecutive sellout crowd (9,121). This starting lineup has now played together eleven times this season with six wins across those games.
Auburn recorded its highest number of second-chance points since January after collecting eighteen offensive rebounds leading directly into twenty-one additional points—both marks among their best performances this year.
