Auburn Blows Out No. 15 Arkansas for Steven Pearl's 1st SEC Victory

AUBURN, Ala. – Playing its best game of the season, Auburn dominated No. 15 Arkansas 95-73 behind 32 points from Keyshawn Hall Saturday at raucous Neville Arena, the Tigers’ first SEC victory.

BOX SCORE | SEASON STATS

“Another unbelievable environment, another sellout,” Auburn coach Steven Pearl said. “A phenomenal result. Our guys did a really good job of executing the game plan. Our defense answered the bell in this game. The challenge now is we’ve got to do that every night. We beat a top 15 team; we can’t let that get us too high. We’ve got to stay locked in and continue to work to get better.”

“You’ve got to give Auburn credit,” Arkansas coach John Calipari said. “They were desperate and they played that way. We got outfought. They were beating us to every loose ball, every 50-50 rebound, 80-20 toward us, they still got the ball. They took it to us in every way.

“We’ve lost to three top 10 teams, and we had a chance to beat all three. We had no chance today.”

Hall registered Auburn’s first back-to-back 30-point games since Wesley Person in 1994, making 4-of-5 3-pointers and going 11-for-14 from the field. Hall filled the box score with five assists, two blocked shots, two rebounds and a steal.

“My father told me you have to be versatile player,” Hall said. “You can’t be one-dimensional. I try to do a little bit of everything. We said we were going to play for the fans. They deserve it. We’re going to keep playing hard for them.”

“I’m more pleased with his defense,” Pearl said. “He did such a good job of walling up, getting vertical and not slapping down. He’s such a talented scorer, he can do it in a number of different ways.”

KeShawn Murphy recorded his first Auburn double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

“It meant a lot to me,” Murphy said. “What meant the most to me was the urgency we had as a team on defense and the will we had to win.”

Elyjah Freeman scored13 points and grabbed six rebounds. Kevin Overton scored 10 points. Tahaad Pettiford added six points, a game-high seven assists and four rebounds.

Leading by 15 at the half, Murphy answered an early Arkansas score with a 3-pointer.

Hall stretched Auburn’s lead to19 points with a corner 3-pointer and a two-handed transition dunk.

Freeman’s 3-pointer put the Tigers on top by 20 before Hall reached the 25-point mark with a layup.

Taking a turn at point guard when Pettiford rested for a few minutes, Hall recorded his fifth assist by passing out of a double-team to Blake Muschalek for a wide-open 3-pointer.

Overton gave Auburn a 25-point lead with Auburn’s ninth 3-pointer of the game.

“We had to get that one. It didn’t matter who it was against,” Pearl said. “You can’t dig yourself into an 0-3 hole in this conference and expect to have any real success. A really important win against a top 15 opponent and a really good Arkansas team.”

Hall scored 18 points in the first half on 7-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, to give Auburn a 49-34 halftime lead.

“Hall played a heck of a game,” Calipari said. “They went to him in the first half and we didn’t really have an answer.”

Hall hit a pair of 3s for the Tigers’ first six points, a preview of coming attractions from the 6-foot-7 forward.

After five lead changes in the first five minutes, Auburn grabbed a lead it would not relinquish on an 8-0 run that Freeman ended with a dunk after Filip Jovic’s steal and downcourt pass, leading to a Calipari timeout.

Darius Acuff Jr. hit a pair of 3-pointers to bring the Razorbacks within two before Auburn took a double-digit lead on an 11-0 run that included 3-point plays from Jovic and Hall, and a Hall 3-pointer.

Auburn ended its first-half scoring with three straight dunks from Jovic, Hall and Freeman to put the Tigers on top by 17 before Acuff hit a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to cut Auburn’s lead to 15 at intermission.

Auburn outrebounded Arkansas 22-12 in the first half and had 11 assists against only five turnovers.

Acuff scored a team-high 19 points for Arkansas (12-4, 2-1).

Auburn (10-6, 1-2) plays at Missouri Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT before returning to Neville Arena next Saturday at 5 p.m. CT to play South Carolina for the Nothing But Neon game that will include free neon t-shirts for Auburn University students.

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer