Auburn fell to Oklahoma 91-79 on Tuesday at Lloyd Noble Center, as the Sooners’ strong three-point shooting proved decisive. Auburn’s Kevin Overton, returning to his home state, led the Tigers with 26 points and seven rebounds, playing all 40 minutes and making five of ten attempts from beyond the arc.
“We didn’t represent Auburn well tonight and that’s on me as their coach,“ Auburn coach Steven Pearl said. “I’ve got to do a better job. We had no urgency and that’s unacceptable.”
Keyshawn Hall also scored 26 points for Auburn, including 23 in the second half, while Filip Jovic contributed seven points and eight rebounds off the bench. Overton scored 16 first-half points in front of family and friends from nearby Oklahoma City, keeping Auburn close early.
Oklahoma capitalized on their outside shooting in the first half, making ten of fourteen three-pointers. SEC leading three-point shooter Nijel Pack hit all four of his first-half attempts. The Sooners finished the half with a nine-point lead after Xzayvier Brown connected from deep just before halftime.
“They only hit two tough contested ones in the first half,” Pearl said. “The other eight were coverage mistakes. For us to win games, we’ve got to stop doing that. They did a really good job of attacking us on the short roll in ball screens.”
Auburn was unable to close the gap in the second half as Oklahoma maintained a double-digit lead for most of the period. Overton twice cut the deficit to ten with second-half threes, but Oklahoma responded each time and extended their advantage to eighteen before Auburn went on a brief run late.
Oklahoma (14-14, 4-11) forced nine second-half turnovers by Auburn to stifle any comeback attempt.
“We executed well early. Second half, we were really poor in our execution,” Pearl said. “We had too many turnovers, 14 turnovers. Sixteen points off of turnovers, we lose by 12, so that’s a big part of the game.”
Pack led Oklahoma with 22 points and six made threes out of eight attempts; Mohamed Wague added 18 points and nine rebounds for one of four Sooners scoring in double figures. The Sooners shot nearly 68 percent from three-point range overall.
“You let a team like that get into a rhythm and play with confidence then you’re going to have a hard time winning,” said Pearl, whose team led for only fifteen seconds during the game. “That’s exactly what we let them do in the first five minutes.”
Auburn (15-13, 6-9) will return home for its next two games at Neville Arena starting Saturday against Ole Miss at 7:30 p.m., where students will receive free T-shirts at attendance.
“Saturday’s a must win,” Pearl said. “If you don’t win that game, you’re out of the NCAA Tournament, and that’s what our mindset has to be leading up to that game. We have to play hungry. We have to do everything the opposite of what we did tonight.”
Game notes show this was Overton’s fifth game this season scoring more than twenty points; Hall has now topped twenty points sixteen times this year and reached double digits in twenty-five out of twenty-six games played so far. Jovic led Auburn in rebounding while Auburn outrebounded Oklahoma overall but allowed thirteen made threes—marking the eleventh time this season an opponent has made double-digit shots from long range against them.
This was Auburn’s first-ever trip to Norman; despite Tuesday’s loss they still lead their all-time series with Oklahoma four games to two.
