SEC Basketball: Each team’s worst performance of the last decade

Auburn

March 18, 2018 (Clemson 84, Auburn 53) (GS: 7)

Auburn’s recent success in basketball is not the norm, but that’s not to say the success won’t continue under Bruce Pearl. While clearly not competitive with Clemson in the NCAA Tournament last season, things are looking up for the future. We’ll talk more about that game, but first there needs to be some focus on the juicy runner-ups (or should we say the season of runner-ups).

The 2010-11 season, Tony Barbee’s first, was pretty bad and it alone gives us a handful of games worth mentioning. Among their first fourteen games of the season were home losses to UNC Asheville (17-14), Samford (10-19), Campbell (11-19), Jacksonville (19-12), Presbyterian (13-18), and LSU (11-21). The worst of these was probably Samford, an 11-point loss in which Auburn played terrible defense against a usually vacant offensive team. But that’s enough fun, let’s look at what Clemson did to these Tigers.

After a close win over the College of Charleston, Auburn found themselves outgunned and outplayed in every facet by Clemson in a remarkably not close 4-5 seed match-up. Gabe DeVoe led the way with 22 points (6-9 on 3’s), while Elijah Thomas had 18 and Marcquise Reed added 16 for Clemson. Auburn trailed by just three halfway through the first half, but then Clemson really enforced their will, scoring 17 straight to take a 35-15 lead a few minutes before halftime. It was a laugher the rest of the way, with Auburn shooting just 25% while Clemson cruised.

Anything could have happened had Auburn won this game, as Clemson played Kansas close in the Sweet Sixteen. While this blowout loss was pretty disheartening, there’s still a bright future ahead for these Tigers, even if last season went up in flames. Auburn may have wasted their first NCAA Tournament appearance in fifteen years, but they’ll be back again and it’s doubtful that they can recreate such a horrid performance.