Recapping Win over #12 Missouri

[aubiefifty 16,683]

Rewinding Auburn’s 88-82 win against No. 12 Missouri

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

5-7 minutes

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Auburn got its biggest win of the season and its first against a ranked opponent on Tuesday night.

Sharife Cooper overcame foul trouble to finish with 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Auburn knocked off No. 12 Missouri, 88-82, at Auburn Arena. The win pushed Auburn to 10-7 overall and 4-5 in SEC play heading into this weekend’s break--which includes the Big 12/SEC Challenge against No. 2 Baylor.

Here’s a blow-by-blow recap of Auburn’s big win:

FINAL: Auburn 88, Missouri 82

-- Sharife Cooper finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Auburn tied a season high with 14 blocks.

-- JT Thor with his fifth block of the night, and Auburn’s 14th, with 34.9 seconds to play to seal this one. Auburn leads by seven.

-- Allen Flanigan with an emphatic dunk down the lane to put Auburn ahead, 82-73 with under 2 minutes to play.

-- Auburn outscored Missouri, 33-19, during the 12-plus minutes Cooper was on the court in the second half.

-- Sharife Cooper picks up his fourth foul with 4:43 to play and Auburn ahead, 74-65.

-- Missouri’s Xavier Pinson has fouled out with 6:01 to play, sending Sharife Cooper to the line. He’s up to 21 points now, and Auburn has an eight-point lead.

-- Auburn 66, Missouri 64 (6:43) | Under-8 timeout: Sharife Cooper now with 19 points and seven assists, coming alive here in the second half to spur Auburn. Chris Moore, meanwhile, hit another corner 3-pointer and has a career-high 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting, including 3-of-3 from deep.

-- Auburn 54, Missouri 54 (11:49) | Under-12 timeout: Auburn is on an 11-4 run and in the bonus the rest of the way.

-- Auburn with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 50-50 with about 13:50 to play. JT Thor 3-pointer, Sharife Cooper basket and two free throws from Dylan Cardwell.

-- Missouri 49, Auburn 43 (15:24) | Under-16 timeout: Missouri has its largest lead of the night and has outscored Auburn 14-4 to open the half.

-- Missouri 45, Auburn 41 (17:07) | Timeout Auburn: Missouri opens the half on a 10-2 run. It took its first lead since 1-0 on a Dru Smith 3-pointer with 17:52 to go to make it 43-41.

-- Sharife Cooper starts the second half on the bench with those three fouls. Missouri opens with a 3-pointer to get within one.

HALFTIME: Auburn 39, Missouri 35

-- Missouri outscored Auburn, 11-7, to close out the half after Sharife Cooper went to the bench with his third foul. Auburn never surrendered the lead, thanks to a few key stops late, which is promising. JT Thor leads Auburn with nine points, while Chris Moore has eight and Cooper has seven to go with five assists. Auburn held Missouri to 33.33 percent shooting for the half and just 2-of-11 from beyond the arc.

-- Missouri with a 7-0 run to get within three with 2:20 to go until halftime, prompting an Auburn timeout.

-- Auburn 36, Missouri 26 (3:33) | Under-4 timeout: Auburn got back-to-back buckets under the rim from Javon Franklin, with Allen Flanigan and Jaylin Williams each assisting on one. Auburn is going to need more from those two, in terms of creating offense, to close out this half without Cooper.

-- And with 5:06 to go in the half, Cooper picks up his third foul, this one on the offensive end. To the bench he goes, with Auburn ahead 32-24.

-- Add Sharife Cooper to the group of Auburn players with two fouls. Cooper picks his up with 5:54 to go in the half.

-- Missouri with a 6-0 run to get within eight. Jaylin Williams and Allen Flanigan with two fouls apiece with 6:35 to play.

-- Auburn 28, Missouri 16 (7:39) | Under-8 timeout: Missouri entered the game with the SEC’s best field goal percentage defense, but Auburn is turning the tables on it. Missouri has made two of its last 11 shots and is shooting just 23.8 percent tonight.

-- Chris Moore has Auburn’s last eight points, and it’s now a 10-0 run for Auburn, which has its biggest lead at 21-9 with 11:17 to go. That also ties Moore’s career-high.

-- Auburn 19, Missouri 9 (12:06): Quick 8-0 run for Auburn over the last 61 seconds, with Sharife Cooper getting a nifty layup followed by back-to-back 3-pointers in transition for Chris Moore.

-- Shaeife Cooper’s first point of the night comes as he splits a pair of free throws. He has already assisted on three of Auburn’s four made baskets, though, and the Tigers lead 11-7.

-- Auburn 8, Missouri 4 (15:49) | Under-16 timeout: Devan Cambridge with a monster dunk on an alley-oop from Sharife Cooper (his second successful lob of the night already), but it’s followed by a technical foul on Cambridge for slapping the backboard after.

-- Six unanswered for Auburn after Missouri’s first point. JT Thor has four of them for Auburn. Missouri is 0-of-5 from the field.

-- Allen Flanigan picks up two quick fouls on one possession. He goes to the bench with 18:35 to play in the first half as Missouri takes a 1-0 lead.

PREGAME

Starting lineups:

-- Auburn: G Sharife Cooper, G Jamal Johnson, G Allen Flanigan, F JT Thor, F Jaylin Williams

-- Missouri: G Dru Smith, G Mark Smith, G Xavier Pinson, F Jeremiah Tilmon, F Kobe Brown.

AL.com will update this post.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[toddc 13,194]

Auburn leading the entire country in blocks per game is amazing.

[Beaker 2,457]

1 minute ago, toddc said:

Auburn leading the entire country in blocks per game is amazing.

You just see the length and think, "this is not an Auburn team."   

Not sure what the other team is thinking, but it looks like we traded players with a blue blood program.  And learn to play like the 'Fighting Pearls' - it's a deadly combination of talent and tenaciousness. 

[Beaker 2,457]

Thanks 50 for posting that,  but the one thing I noticed last night - as Shariffe goes, so does Auburn BB right now.

 

When he is off court, our flow and ability to just move the ball is so restricted.   It's like watching Auburn basketball 10 yrs ago.

[toddc 13,194]

4 minutes ago, Beaker said:

You just see the length and think, "this is not an Auburn team."   

Not sure what the other team is thinking, but it looks like we traded players with a blue blood program.  And learn to play like the 'Fighting Pearls' - it's a deadly combination of talent and tenaciousness. 

Our shot blocking/length really hurts a team like Missouri because they play more in the paint, and we took them out of their game. 

[Beaker 2,457]

Just now, toddc said:

Our shot blocking/length really hurts a team like Missouri because they play more in the paint, and we took them out of their game. 

You see that game?  That was ridiculous.   Heck with about 1-2 minutes left they had two blocks within 3 seconds as MO was desperately trying to close the gap.   Those were not cheap blocks, but hard fought, in traffic blocks.  

[AUGoo 2,659]

17 minutes ago, Beaker said:

Thanks 50 for posting that,  but the one thing I noticed last night - as Shariffe goes, so does Auburn BB right now.

 

When he is off court, our flow and ability to just move the ball is so restricted.   It's like watching Auburn basketball 10 yrs ago.

That's not new.  We struggled while we waited for him as well.  I'd be interested to see how they'd play with another ball handler who can get the ball down the floor and start the flow of the O in a back up position.  I bet others would be able to keep the scoring going, at least a little better.

[PUB78 1,354]

Great victory for the BB Team!

[alexava 6,973]

I didn’t say it out loudly but I thought Chris Moore was a waste of a floor spot last game. We probably don’t win without him last night. . 
      Playing cooper this season was probably a mistake.. we would been better off keeping him hidden from the nba until we were post season eligible. That’s selfish of me I know. He is such a spark plug. Just makes such a difference it’s amazing..

[AUApostle 7,648]

34 minutes ago, alexava said:

we would been better off keeping him hidden from the nba until we were post season eligible. 

Not really possible to hide a player like that in bball... NBA scouts probably know his game as well as any college coach.

[ellitor 33,062]

2 hours ago, toddc said:

Auburn leading the entire country in blocks per game is amazing.

Damn! And I didn’t think block parties were allowed in the Covid era.

[ellitor 33,062]

1 hour ago, alexava said:

Playing cooper this season was probably a mistake.. we would been better off keeping him hidden from the nba until we were post season eligible. That’s selfish of me I know. He is such a spark plug. Just makes such a difference it’s amazing..

@alexava I hope this is kind of a joke post because it would’ve been a horrendous move. You hold a kid like that back from playing and word will get around to other recruits and their families about us not doing what’s best for our players and letting them play. Would be an absolutely horrible mistake. You let the kids play and develop as they will whatever that means.

[toddc 13,194]

9 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Damn! And I didn’t think block parties were allowed in the Covid era.

You are quite the joker these days e! 😝 

[Beaker 2,457]

23 minutes ago, toddc said:

You are quite the joker these days e! 😝 

Ellitor's account got hacked last month.   It is quite obvious to me also.  

 

I am not sure where E is these days.    Probably stuck in a basement with some guy collecting moths nearby.

[alexava 6,973]

1 hour ago, ellitor said:

@alexava I hope this is kind of a joke post because it would’ve been a horrendous move. You hold a kid like that back from playing and word will get around to other recruits and their families about us not doing what’s best for our players and letting them play. Would be an absolutely horrible mistake. You let the kids play and develop as they will whatever that means.

It was certainly a joke. But I would bet some coaches would really consider it. 

[Ausburn2 486]

1 hour ago, ellitor said:

Damn! And I didn’t think block parties were allowed in the Covid era.

 

1 hour ago, toddc said:

You are quite the joker these days e! 😝 

Think E is really too busy and has someone with sarcastic awareness/humor script answers for him. Like a Twitter handler.

[AuburnNTexas 7,127]

32 minutes ago, Ausburn2 said:

 

Think E is really too busy and has someone with sarcastic awareness/humor script answers for him. Like a Twitter handler.

I am betting there are so many JOKESTERS on this board that some of it has rubbed off on E.

[Ausburn2 486]

43 minutes ago, Ausburn2 said:

 

Think E is really too busy and has someone with sarcastic awareness/humor script answers for him. Like a Twitter handler.

 

9 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

I am betting there are so many JOKESTERS on this board that some of it has rubbed off on E.

Even a blind squirrel finds

nuts every once in a while....

500 × 468

[ellitor 33,062]

38 minutes ago, AuburnNTexas said:

I am betting there are so many JOKESTERS on this board that some of it has rubbed off on E.

I miss a lot of sarcastic things no doubt but I'm sure @bigbird & @augolf1716 can tell you from knowing me online for over a decade now that I'm very punny & corny.

[bigbird 60,368]

13 minutes ago, ellitor said:

I miss a lot of sarcastic things no doubt but I'm sure @bigbird & @augolf1716 can tell you from knowing me online for over a decade now that I'm very punny & corny.

[augolf1716 21,095]

21 minutes ago, ellitor said:

I miss a lot of sarcastic things no doubt but I'm sure @bigbird & @augolf1716 can tell you from knowing me online for over a decade now that I'm very punny & corny.

Just for you e

[AUBwins 10,064]

2 hours ago, alexava said:

It was certainly a joke. But I would bet some coaches would really consider it. 

I bet the rest of the SEC is wishing we did.  Lol

[alexava 6,973]

Can we play with Baylor?

[ellitor 33,062]

4 minutes ago, alexava said:

Can we play with Baylor?

@alexava Absolutely! Now beating them, that will be much tougher.

[gravejd 3,267]

20 minutes ago, alexava said:

Can we play with Baylor?

Can’t wait for the Coop vs Mitchel matchup. He was a great defender even as a freshman at AU. It’ll be a tough test for Coop but I bet he wins at least a few of the matchups up and down the floor.