Johni Broome had 16 points and 13 rebounds and No. 1 Auburn exceeded an approximate offensive performance to beat Arkansas 67-60 on Wednesday night.
After winning in Alabama on Saturday in a game among the best teams of the survey, Auburn (24-2, 12-1 Southeast Conference) had to fight to avoid his second consecutive defeat at home. The tigers fell to one with 3:06 remaining before closing the game in a 10-2 race.
Chad Baker-Mazara added 15 points and Chaney Johnson had 14 for Auburn, which had an unusually out of place performance in 3-point shots, ball security and edge defense. The Tigers fired 25 of 62 (40.3%) from the field, including only 4 of 24 from a range of 3 points, but scored 16 second chance points of 13 offensive rebounds.
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl accredited his team for taking the victory despite “careless” performance.
“We knew it was going to be a fight because Arkansas is so good on the defensive and such a large edge protection team,” Pearl said. “And, you know, our offensive left much to be desired tonight. Our execution was not very good. I don't think our selection of shooting was great.”
He added: “But our boys competed. They did not let the fact that we were not making shots and playing rightly affect their defense. Sustaining Arkansas at 60 points is significant.”
Broome, widely considered among the favorites for the wooden award this season, registered its 36th race game with at least 15 points and 10 rebounds, the greatest amount for a SEC player in the last 20 seasons, according to ESPN Research.
Adou Thiero led Arkansas (15-11, 4-9) with 16. Johnell Davis had 14. The razorbs also fought from Deep on Wednesday night, shooting only 3 of 19.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
