Mizzou Tigers drop SEC basketball opener at No. 2 Auburn. Here’s how it went down

The Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team opened the Southeastern Conference portion of its 2024-25 schedule with an 84-68 loss to No. 2-ranked Auburn on Saturday afternoon in Auburn, Alabama.

Mizzou (11-3, 0-1 SEC) entered the game at Neville Arena seeking its first league victory since beating Tennessee in the SEC Tournament on March 10, 2023.

The Tigers’ next shot at that long-awaited streak-breaker comes Tuesday at home against LSU (more about that below).

After a 2-2 tie, Auburn led this one throughout. The home team drained seven 3-pointers in the first half and finished 10 of 21 beyond the arc while shooting 56% from the field overall.

Marques Warrick led Mizzou with 19 points but was the only player on coach Dennis Gates’ roster who scored in double-digits Saturday.

Johni Broome led Auburn (13-1, 1-0) with 24 points. A senior forward, he also combined with senior Auburn big man Dylan Cardwell to block seven MU shot attempts in the game.

The host Tigers began to put some distance between themselves and their counterparts from Columbia by the midpoint of the opening half. Auburn led 23-13 with 10 minutes left until halftime and 29-15 with 8:03 remaining.

Missouri kept the deficit to 12 points at the break, when Auburn led 45-33. But things didn’t improve much for the visitors after the intermission.

Tamar Bates was the black-and-gold Tigers’ top scorer in the first half, with 8 points. But he went 0 for 4 from 3-point range and didn’t score after halftime.

Broome, meanwhile, was Auburn’s leading scorer at halftime with 13 points.

MU guard Caleb Grill played his second game since being sidelined by a scary injury that required hospitalization. The Wichita native went scoreless on three shot attempts, all from 3-point range.

As aforementioned, Missouri’s next game is at home, on Tuesday at 8 p.m., against LSU at Mizzou Arena.