Auburn basketball battled, but fell apart in the final minutes against the Baylor Bears on Tuesday night.
The Tigers lost 88-82 after what a stellar first half performance.
After K.D. Johnson’s jumper gave Auburn a 77-72 lead with 4:26 to play, Baylor scored 11 unanswered points while the Tigers were scoreless for 3 minutes and 11 seconds.
Here are five takeaways from the loss.
Ja'Kobe Walter got his
The Baylor freshman had 28 points on 53.8% shooting. It's the most points scored by a Bears' freshman in his debut.
Auburn just simply couldn't guard him.
Folding under pressure
Auburn was outscored 54-39 in the second half after building a 43-34 halftime lead. The Tigers were immediately punched in the mouth coming out of the half and were in a dogfight until the very end, when with the lead Baylor scored 11 unanswered.
"We're a better team than how we played tonight," Pearl said postgame.
Aden Holloway was excellent
Holloway had 19 points, three rebounds, six assists and a block in his Auburn debut. He looked excellent at times.
His size may end up being a bit of a concern in the future, but if he can shoot like Jared Harper did for Auburn several years ago, he should be just fine.
Defense with fouling
Auburn had 32 personal fouls in this game. The officials were calling everything.
"We fouled 32 times," Pearl said in his postgame press conference. "I had guys in foul trouble all game long. Baylor went to the line 21 times in the second half. They were in the bonus in a few minutes... It's a high-level game, and it was too much of a foul fest."
There was no "letting the kids play" or "swallowing whistles." Baylor had 22 fouls of their own. It was a ticky tacky kind of night on both ends of the floor, and the Bears ended up capitalizing more than the Tigers.
Things will be okay for the Tigers
This was an odd road environment against a very solid Big 12 team. Scoring 82 and being pretty efficient while doing so was promising. Auburn's backcourt looks solid. If the defense can come together a little better in future contests, Bruce Pearl and the Tigers have a chance to be good.
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