Petre Thomas/USA TODAY Sports
OKLAHOMA (16-5, 3-5) at AUBURN (20-1, 8-0)
SEC Network, 8 p.m. CST
• THE CASE FOR OKLAHOMA: They can score the basketball. They're a pretty consistent team with two players (PG Jeremiah Fears, SG Duke Miles) the Tigers coveted in recruiting plus another guy (F Jalon Moore) from Gardendale that Auburn didn't recruit ardently enough. So there is some familiarity there. Oklahoma's coach, Porter Moser, coaxes a ton of effort from his team; they play like they're all jacked up on Mountain Dew. They may actually be jacked up on Mountain Dew. And while their defense is just so-so, they defend the perimeter well because their guards are quick and agile.
• THE CASE AGAINST OKLAHOMA: Their defense is just so-so overall and I don't see a post defender that can repel Johni Broome, Dylan Cardwell and Chaney Johnson for 40 minutes. I also don't see the kind of rebounding it takes to beat Auburn — a team that LIVES on the offensive glass and collects stick-backs like Beanie Babies circa 1995. This is not a long team. This is not a powerful team. They're 1-3 on the road in SEC games with a 15-point average margin of defeat. (Their only road win was at Arkansas.)
• WHY IS THIS GAME INTRIGUING?
This one doesn't move me a lot, to be honest.
I was impressed with how the Tigers managed their game at Ole Miss. The point guard, Sean Pedulla, torched Auburn in unusual fashion to the tune of 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting. Bruce Pearl and chief strategist Mike Burgomaster never devised a real-time solution to that problem, but scoring contributions from a variety of sources yielded 92 points. That was enough to marginalize Pedulla's amazing afternoon.
Now comes this tilt with Oklahoma, which is positioned just ahead of the weekend showdown with Todd Golden's Florida Gators. Some might describe it as a "trap game," but I'd argue that this Auburn team cannot be trapped. The roster is too experienced to fall victim to such sophomoric mistakes.
Can Auburn lose games? Hell yes it can. In fact, I'm quite sure that will happen one of these days relatively soon. Do not allow yourself to believe these Tigers are going to run the table in conference play. There will be losses; the conference is just too good right now. With that said, I expect to see Auburn put together a solid, credible, even-keeled performance against Oklahoma tonight and win the game by 15-ish points. There is no reason to expect brilliance after a short prep (Auburn's practices on Sunday and Monday were basically walk-throughs due to the schedule), though brilliance would be welcomed by an adoring constituency huddled inside Neville's aurally stimulating confines.
It's all about burning and conserving. This season is a marathon and Auburn, to this point, has managed the pace remarkably well. If things get bumpy against Oklahoma, can the Tigers adapt to the conditions? We saw that at Georgia. We saw that against Tennessee. And we saw that at Ole Miss — a game that Auburn almost certainly would have lost last season. Now? Too experienced. These players have tasted bitter defeat and understand what must be done to turn things around in one half or even a single, four-minute segment.
When this team plays poorly for stretches within a game, too many Bunks freak out.
Don't be one of those people. Understand why things aren't working and watch the team find a way around the obstacle. If you're missing the remedy, you're missing this team's best trait — having so many potential contributors who have broad bases of skills. There are so many paths to victory.
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