Auburn and Mississippi State have received recent reminders of how difficult playing on the road in the SEC can be.
The No. 8 Tigers lost at unranked Alabama 79-75 on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs, who beat No. 5 Tennessee 77-72 at home Jan. 10, are winless on the road in SEC play after a 79-70 loss at Florida on Wednesday.
Auburn (16-3, 5-1) and MSU (13-6, 2-4) meet Saturday afternoon in Starkville, Miss.
The Tigers saw their 11-game winning streak, the longest among Power Five teams, end against the Crimson Tide, but coach Bruce Pearl put the performance in perspective.
“We can compete on the road in a tough environment against a really good team,” Pearl said. “This may not be the outcome we wanted, but this is an outcome that tells me something.”
Auburn saw Alabama use a 36-14 stretch to take a 44-30 halftime lead. The Tigers fought back to take a one-point lead midway through the second half.
“Really good leadership, great chemistry, great kids,” Pearl said of his team’s comeback. “We got some stops and made some shots.”
But it was missed shots in the first half that left Auburn with the halftime hole. The Tigers were outscored by 21 points on 3-pointers in the first half and finished 5 of 25 from beyond the arc.
“We missed some shots that you need to make to win against a really good team on the road,” Pearl said. “I don’t know that many teams are going to come in here and win in our league. We were a team that had the ability and had a chance.”
The Bulldogs are happy to be back home, where they are 7-2 overall and 2-1 in the SEC.
“It’s a Super Bowl every game,” guard Josh Hubbard said of the SEC schedule.
He had a team-high 26 points against the Gators. It was the freshman’s fifth game with 20 or more points.
“We don’t look at him like a freshman anymore,” coach Chris Jans said. “We rely on him at this point. He had 26, but he had to take a lot of shots to get there. We were in a position where him taking a contested 3 is maybe our best option at times.
“It’s no fault of his where he was put in a position where we were trying to get him to get shots and try to give us a chance to get back in the game. But Josh doesn’t get fazed by too much, and hopefully he’ll continue to play well for us.”
MSU had to play from behind against Florida, much as Auburn had to against Alabama. The Bulldogs fell behind by nine at halftime and by 17 in the second half. They closed within six, but couldn’t get any closer.
“We know there’s a lot more opportunities down the road,” Hubbard said. “We just have to learn lessons like this. We can’t pass them up. Each one matters, and we can’t look past a team.
“The SEC is a tough league. Anybody can beat anybody.”
– Field Level Media