How Auburn's résumé stacks up post Missouri
On Monday, Bruce Pearl said that Missouri was Auburn’s most important game of the season.
On Tuesday, Pearl’s team responded by thumping Missouri 89-56 inside Neville Arena.
Prior to Tuesday’s matchup, Missouri boasted the No. 4 offense per Kenpom, but only put up 18 points in the first half, which was its lowest total in a half all season, and it effectively ended the game by the time the second half had started.
"We control our destiny," Pearl said. "Northwestern scored 42 against us. They just beat Purdue. We just had a chance to beat the No. 1 team in the country in Alabama. We didn't. But we had a chance. Can we hold Missouri under 73? If we do, we're going to win the game."
Not only did the win end a three-game slide for Auburn, but it was an important win for the SEC standings.
Heading into the night, the two Tiger teams, along with Kentucky, were in a three-way tie for fourth place in the SEC and the final double bye.
With the win, Auburn went up a game on Missouri and will be in sole possession of fourth if Kentucky loses in Starkville on Wednesday.
“I'm gonna be honest with my team,” Pearl said. “We've got a chance to finish tied for third or fourth tonight, or we could finish eighth or ninth after the outcome tonight. That's just the reality of it. I wanted my guys to understand that. They did.”
With Selection Sunday looming, Auburn needs as many résumé building wins as it can get.
Missouri checked in at No. 44 in the most recent NET rankings, so they are firmly a Quad-2 home win for Auburn. The win moved Auburn’s record in Q2 games to 6-2.
Games that qualify as Quad-1 are home games against teams ranked 1-30, neutral games against teams ranked 1-50 and road games against teams ranked 1-75 in the NET rankings.
As it stands, the Tigers are just 2-6 in Quad-1 games with their wins coming in a neutral game against No. 43 Northwestern and at home against No. 23 Arkansas.
The Tigers have three more chances to pick up more Q1 wins before the tournament in road games against Kentucky and Alabama and then a home game against Tennessee.
“We want to try to get to the NCAA Tournament,” Pearl said. “This helps, but we've still got work to do.”