Bruce Pearl opens up on Auburn's free throw struggles vs. Houston

Auburn was flying high at halftime of their round of 32 game against Houston. The Tigers led 41-31 at the break and had the Cougars on their heels with 20 minutes to play. Then, Kelvin Sampson’s club came out and devoured Auburn in the second half, outscoring the Tigers 50-23 en route to a decisive 81-64 victory. Whatever Sampson said to his group at the half, it worked, because Houston came out and played perhaps their best half of basketball all year to take a chokehold of that game.

Auburn just ran into a blitzkrieg. Houston got one open jumper after another, and when they weren’t splashing shots, the Cougars were getting fouled and getting to the line, where they shot a perfect 18-18. Auburn didn’t help themselves by missing some of their own shots at the foul line. When asked about the Tigers’ own free throw issues, head coach Bruce Pearl downplayed their impact on the game, instead pointing to his team’s defensive woes as the reason for their ultimate downfall.

“Obviously, it’s frustrating. But, you know, what’s more frustrating is — that is something you can’t control. So things I can do a better job of controlling are, you know — we just got to recognize that they shot, you know, 50% in the second half. That, you know, they were 4/10 from 3 and they didn’t miss a free throw. They were 18/18 from the foul line. In the second half they did everything they needed to do offensively. We couldn’t guard them. The guys could look at this or that. They scored 50 points in the second half. That’s why they won.”

Pearl is not ready to make excuses for his team’s poor defense. Sure, missed free throws are never ideal, and Auburn definitely shot themselves in the foot during their second half meltdown by clanking a few of their free throws, but without better defense, the Tigers were losing that game regardless. Houston only mustered 31 points in the first half and then popped for 50 — and Auburn ranks in the top-20 statistically in defensive efficiency in the country.

All year, the Tigers were a defense-first team. But in their losses, Auburn couldn’t keep more physical and more athletic teams off the offensive glass or off the free throw line. They allowed Houston to grab nearly 45% of their own misses while fouling them practically one in every four times down the court. Houston just overwhelmed Auburn in the second half and showed why they earned a one-seed while the Tigers had to sweat out Selection Sunday.