Auburn basketball: How have other No. 1s responded to surprising upsets? What history shows

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It got rather weird for Auburn basketball on Tuesday evening in College Station, Texas, going up against what’s become a standard matchup with Texas A&M.

Under Buzz Williams, the Aggies were 5-2 against Auburn coming into the contest, which the 22nd-ranked Aggies would eventually win, toppling the top-ranked Tigers 83-72.

“We just got physically punched in the mouth,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said on postgame radio. “We got physically run out of here. It’s how Texas A&M plays, but when you get 16 defensive rebounds, and they get 24 offensive rebounds, that’s going to be a deal. Every team is going to look at that and say, ‘Hey, the way to beat Auburn is to just be physical with them.’ We just didn’t step up.”

FULL RECAP, STATS: Texas A&M topples Auburn basketball in upset of No. 1

That’s a game plan that’s worked for Texas A&M (21-9, 10-7 SEC) under Williams half a dozen times now. When it comes to beating Auburn (27-3, 15-2), the Aggies have always scrapped and hustled. It also became much easier to do on an uncharacteristically great shooting night from the home team.

The oddity of it all, however, was that these were two programs heading in opposite directions come game time. Auburn had wrapped up an outright SEC championship over the weekend, blowing out then-No. 17 Kentucky on its home court, where it hadn’t won in 37 years. Texas A&M was losers of four-straight games, suddenly going from a high seed in this month’s NCAA Tournament to sinking into the middle of the field if it couldn’t regroup.

For the Aggies, it was a win that keeps them in the top half of the field, for at least another game. For the Tigers, there’s a genuine possibility this changes little to nothing for their postseason outlook. They still have 16 Quad 1 wins, far more than any team near the top of the nation.

What will matter, however, is how they respond. And they’re not the first No. 1 to be in this position. On Tuesday, they became just the fifth No. 1 overall team to be upset by a opponent that…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/auburn-basketball-other-no-1s-100944552.html

Author : The Montgomery Advertiser

Publish date : 2025-03-05 10:09:00

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