3 Painful Takeaways From Auburn's 91-79 Loss at Oklahoma

Following one of the most important wins of the season on Saturday, the Auburn Tigers needed to do anything they could to avoid a letdown against Oklahoma on Tuesday night.

However, they did just that.

Auburn fell to the Sooners, 91-79, in a game that the Tigers led for a whopping 18 seconds and once trailed by as many as 18 points. The loss marked their sixth in the last seven games, and it dropped Auburn to 15-13 overall and 6-9 in SEC play.

Let’s take a look at three immediate takeaways from the loss and what Auburn needs to do to make the NCAA Tournament.

Defense Still Struggling

The lack of defense has been an issue surrounding Auburn this entire season, and that didn’t change on Tuesday night.

Granted, Oklahoma’s offense is extremely dangerous and ranks among the best in the nation in recent games, but the defensive inefficiencies always seem to haunt the Tigers. Auburn allowed the Sooners, who averaged just over 80 points per game entering the night, to score 91 points on 52.6% shooting and an impressive 68.4% from behind the arc.

Oklahoma knocked home 13 3-balls from downtown, and it went 10-for-14 from 3-point land in the first half alone. Sooners guard Nijel Pack, the SEC’s leader 3-point shooter, went 4-for-4 from deep, while Jadon Jones finished 3-for-4.

Auburn’s perimeter defense struggled heavily, as it has in previous games this season, and it cost the Tigers in the end. Effort and energy as a whole are absent on the defensive end at (many) moments, and it’s one of the areas of concern that Auburn needs to address and improve upon if it wants to make the tournament.

Body Language, Effort, Attitude

As mentioned in the previous section, something seems off with Auburn’s body language and “togetherness,” especially when things aren’t necessarily going its way.

Of course, the team features 10 new Tigers and only one returning player from last year’s Final Four squad, but it doesn’t feel like Auburn is necessarily excited to play with each other. Their body language is poor at times, and it doesn’t feel like the five Tigers on the court exactly enjoy working together.

Maybe it’s noticeable since last season’s team chemistry and locker room brotherhood were so strong, but the lack of unity is apparent on both ends of the floor – and it’s certainly producing negative results.

Does Auburn Even Deserve a Tournament Bid?

Entering the night, multiple bracketology projections featured Auburn as a No. 10 seed (Last Four Byes), while a couple of others had the Tigers on the No. 9 seed line.

However, Steven Pearl and company are firmly on the bubble after Tuesday’s performance. Interestingly enough, although Oklahoma only boasted three SEC wins before picking up its fourth against the Tigers, the game was actually a Quad-1 opportunity. The Sooners rank No. 71 in the NET, and a road matchup against an opponent that is top-75 in the NET qualifies as a Quad-1 game.

So, the loss isn’t as detrimental as it may seem on the surface, but nonetheless, Auburn has no business losing to one of the worst teams in the SEC. And, frankly, Oklahoma controlled the game for a majority of the contest, and the Tigers never really made it close down the stretch.

Is Auburn a tournament team? Does it deserve a bid to the Big Dance?

Fans are going to find out soon, as Auburn has three games – Ole Miss, LSU, and Alabama – to make its case. If the Tigers finish the regular season with wins over the Rebels and LSU, and a loss to the Crimson Tide, they are likely still in the field of 68.

But if Auburn falls to Ole Miss or LSU on its home floor, the Tigers could face extreme uncertainty on Selection Sunday.