Auburn is striving to build momentum and get away from the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Oklahoma is trying to make positive steps now that its only potential path to the NCAA Tournament figures to be an unlikely run through the SEC tournament. The Sooners host the Tigers on Tuesday in Norman, Okla.
Auburn is coming off a 75-74 win over Kentucky on Saturday to snap a five-game losing streak that left the Tigers (15-12, 6-8 SEC) sliding into bubble territory after being firmly in the field before the skid.
Tigers coach Steven Pearl said his team understood the importance of the game against the Wildcats, but that Auburn couldn’t let that motivation fade as it enters the final four games of the regular season.
“It means nothing if we don’t prepare for Oklahoma with the same desperation that we prepared for (Kentucky),” Pearl said.
Four of Auburn’s losses during the losing streak came by single digits, including four-point and six-point defeats.
The Sooners certainly understand that pain. Oklahoma (13-14, 3-11) has dropped back-to-back games and 11 of its last 13.
During a nine-game losing streak that stretched through most of January and early into February, the Sooners lost six games by 10 points or fewer, including three by four points or fewer.
They’re coming off a 75-71 home loss to Texas A&M that erased any hope of fighting back into position to earn an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament.
Oklahoma coach Porter Moser senses that his team is pressing more as the losses continue to mount.
“There definitely is some of that,” Moser said in the wake of Saturday’s loss to the Aggies. “Sometimes guys want it so bad, that they just try to go do it themselves. Yes. I don’t think it was, ‘I’m selfish, trying to get mine.’ I don’t believe my guys are like that.”
One of the bright spots recently has been the play of Dayton Forsythe.
The sophomore reserve guard battled ankle injuries in December and early January, and it took him awhile to get back into form.
But after averaging 4.0 points and 1.6 assists, shooting 30% from beyond the arc and 29.5% overall through his first 17 games, Forsythe is averaging 11.5 points and 3.3 assists and shooting 38.5% from deep and 50% overall over the last four games.
Auburn’s KeShawn Murphy is coming off a career-high 25-point performance against Kentucky. Murphy scored 16 points for Mississippi State in a loss to the Sooners last season.
