Auburn's Season 'On the Line' vs. Kentucky After 'Devastating' Midweek Loss

The Auburn Tigers are coming off arguably their worst loss of the season, and the road gets much tougher on Saturday.

Steven Pearl and company fell to the Mississippi State Bulldogs, 91-85, on Wednesday night, in what Auburn’s first-year head coach said was the worst showing he’s seen since being with the Tigers.

"That was obviously devastating. That was the worst loss I've probably been a part of at Auburn,” Pearl said on the radio after Wednesday’s game in Starkville. “We've just got to try to take what we did well in those 15 minutes.”

“Your season is on the line Saturday. If you don't win on Saturday, you're probably firmly on the bubble and out of the tournament. So put some pressure on yourself.”

The Tigers trailed by as much as 18 points to the Bulldogs a few days ago, but Auburn came storming back in the second half to put itself ahead by seven points with about four minutes remaining in the contest.

However, what seemed to be a potentially momentum-generating victory quickly transformed into, as Pearl described it, a devastating outcome, as a collapse from Auburn on both ends of the floor allowed Mississippi State to survive and emerge with the win.

The game marked the Tigers’ fifth consecutive loss, the most since Auburn dropped seven straight during the 2015-16 season, Bruce Pearl’s second season on the Plains. Once holding a 5-3 SEC record, Auburn now sits at 5-8 and ranks tied for 11th in league play.

Four of Auburn’s last five losses came by less than 10 points, and Pearl knows that his team has the ability to overcome adversity and respond on Saturday against Kentucky, even despite several recent disappointments.

“They know we’re right there,” Pearl said in Friday’s press conference. “We’ve got to get over the hump. We’ve got to finish and push it over the edge. The reason there’s good energy is they recognize we’re more than capable if we can just finish. That’s what we have to do in these last five games.”

Pearl also mentioned that Auburn had a great practice on Thursday, revealing that there is still a belief in the locker room that the Tigers can rebound from the five-game skid.

Auburn faces five more regular-season games this year, as it faces Kentucky, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, LSU, and Alabama to close the 2025-26 SEC slate. In order for the Tigers to feel confident about their chances of securing a bid to the NCAA tournament, they most likely need to go 4-1, meaning they defeat Oklahoma, Ole Miss, and LSU, and steal one of either Kentucky or Alabama.

Obviously, 5-0 with a ranked road win over the Crimson Tide – assuming they remain in the Top 25 – to cap the season would be ideal, but anything worse than 4-1 could result in an uneasy feeling for Auburn come Selection Sunday in a few weeks.

Auburn must win the games it is supposed to win, steal one that it isn’t, and certainly go on a run in the SEC Tournament to lock in an at-large spot in the Big Dance. However, one or two more stumbles down the stretch, and the Tigers could find themselves on the outside looking in.