Auburn will be glad to have its second-leading scorer back as soon as possible.
For all the NBA-level defense that Isaac Okoro, who missed his second straight game with a hamstring injury Wednesday, provides, the Tigers could have used his scoring ability against Georgia.
Or they could have used anyone else stepping up outside of the usual suspects.
Tigers not named J’Von McCormick, Austin Wiley and Samir Doughty struggled mightily for the second straight game on offense as No. 13 Auburn suffered its second consecutive loss, 65-55 in Athens on Wednesday night.
Senior shooting guard Samir Doughty scored 14 of his 15 points in the second half. Outside of that senior trio of McCormick, Wiley and Doughty, Auburn had seven points on 2-of-21 shooting.
"I absolutely don't believe in throwing anyone under the bus other than myself," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said postgame on AU radio. "So let's just say I've not been able to find guys behind Isaac (Okoro) that can come in and play his position and, you know, step up."
After allowing 85 points against Missouri in its previous loss, offense was to blame for Auburn against Georgia. The Tigers played well on defense, holding the Bulldogs to 65 points, the second-fewest allowed by Auburn in SEC play this year (Georgia scored 60 points in the teams' first meeting).
"Defensively, I thought we made more plays," Pearl said. "We turned Georgia over. We held them down to 37%. They only scored 65 points — and we could've executed better late and it would have been less than that."
Offensively, the loss marked Auburn's second-lowest scoring total of the season behind its 47-69 loss at Florida.
McCormick led all scorers with 22 points and was Auburn’s only consistent offense all game.
The senior point guard multiple times willed his squad back within striking distance with a 9-0 run by himself in the first half followed by a 10-0 solo run in the second. But Auburn couldn’t complement his scoring enough to take advantage.
"J'Von stepped up his game. Huge," Pearl said. "Played great."
Wiley added 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go with eight rebounds. But he and McCormick combined for eight of the team's 15 turnovers, including an errant pass in the final minute by Wiley when Auburn was looking to cut the lead to two possessions.
"He didn't do a very good job of finishing as well as he could have," Pearl said of Wiley. "He needed to be dominant. He was good in there, but he wasn't dominant."
As big man Anfernee McLemore shot 0-for-5 and had four fouls, Pearl utilized freshman power forward Jaylin Williams for the first time during non-garbage time in conference play. The coach was "very encouraged" by Williams, who missed his only shot but pulled down six boards and was plus-4 for Auburn during his 16 minutes.
Auburn continued its 3-point struggles as well, shooting 4-of-26 from downtown. Over their past 105 minutes of basketball (second half and overtime vs. Alabama, full games against Missouri and Georgia), Pearl's squad is 7-of-56 from deep.
"I thought we got good looks," Pearl said. "And the guys that took them are the guys I want taking those shots."
Auburn returns home Saturday vs. Tennessee (11 a.m. CST, CBS) after coming up empty during its two-game road trip.
NOT A MEMBER?
JOIN AUBURNSPORTS.COM TODAY to enjoy around-the-clock content including stories, analysis, videos, podcasts, call-in shows and The Greatest Message Board In The History of The Internet.
