SEC Basketball is off and running once again, as it has led college basketball in analytics efficiency as the top conference in college basketball via kenpom.com. Auburn (9-6, 0-2) suffered a 90-88 home loss to improved Texas A&M (12-3, 9-6).
Texas A&M 90, Auburn 88 – The Tigers held a 61-45 lead as Elijah Freeman hit a pair of free throws with 13:29 left in the game. The Aggies scored eight points off three Auburn turnovers in 43 seconds. “Bucky Ball,” via first-year Texas A&M coach Bucky McMillan, was an entity with the forced turnovers and full-court pressure, plus their three-point game. From there, Texas A&M held Auburn to 10-of-24 from the field with six turnovers as the Aggies immediately came back to within striking distance.
At the 8:42 mark of the second half, Texas A&M forward Pop Issacs hit a three-pointer in transition off a Tigers’ turnover and gave Texas A&M its first lead since 29-28 with 6:43 remaining in the first half.
A pair of free throws by Ruben Dominguez gave the Aggies their biggest lead at 85-73 before Auburn came back with a 15-5 run as the Tigers cut it to 90-88 with five seconds to play.
The inbounds pass went to KeShawn Murphy, who hit a supposed game-winning three just below half-court on the deep right side. The officials gathered to watch a video that showed Murphy clearly released the ball, which was out of his hands and on its upward trajectory at 0:00.1. The officials looked at the video and disallowed Murphy’s game-winner, and the Aggies went home with a tough 90-88 victory.
“Just because I could not believe the game was not over, I just couldn’t believe all of a sudden, I look up, and there’s a sideline out of bounds? With no timeouts? That was crazy,” said McMillan. “You never see that, or you never would elect to do what we did in that scenario. ”
Auburn coach Steven Pearl immediately discussed the situation with the SEC office after the game and before his postgame with the media.
“There was zero communication,” Pearl said of trying to get information from referees Byron Jarrett, Todd Austin, and Courtney Green. “They didn’t say a word. They just said it was no good and ran off the floor. I probably wouldn’t want to talk to me in that moment anyway, so I get why they’d run away from me.”
Tigers guard Keyshawn Hall led Auburn with 32 points and 12 rebounds as he nailed 13-of-16 free throws. Isaacs led four Aggies in double figures with 21 points.
Video of the time and the last-second shot. The lady verbally noted on this video when the shot was at 0:00.1