After cruising to a 21-point win Saturday, Auburn basketball fell in its second and final game against Serbian professional team KK Mega Superbet on Sunday in Mykonos, Greece, 70-68.
Steven Pearl said ahead of time he would rest some of his starters, and that was primarily the two veteran guards. Tahaad Pettiford played only the first quarter, and Kevin Overton did not play in the final 17 minutes.
Pearl said Pettiford “tweaked his knee” in the first half and could have returned, but Auburn kept him on the bench out of caution.
“Mega did a great job of coming out and playing aggressive and physically,” Pearl said in a postgame video provided to reporters by Auburn sports information director Ted Feeley. “They did a really good job of limiting us to one shot early in the game. We had way too many turnovers with 22. Without Tahaad and KO in the second half, that was to be expected.”
Auburn was also without Creighton forward transfer Owen Freeman and Vanderbilt guard transfer George Kimble III due to respective foot and hand injuries, while international signees Narcisse Ngoy and Mantas Rubstavicius will not suit up with the team in Greece “as they await their eligibility clearance from the NCAA.”
Thomas Dowd scored 8 points and grabbed a whopping 18 rebounds. Adam Olsen added 14 points and made 4-of-7 triples. Big man Bukky Oboye led Auburn in scoring with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, and added eight rebounds and four blocks.
“Bukky responded to me challenging him a little bit,” Pearl said. “I called him out, and he did a great job tonight of playing through fatigue. He played 32 minutes.”
Auburn was down by 9 in the second half and rallied to have a chance late, but came up short. The Tigers shot just 8-of-34 from deep after hitting 41% of their triples the day before. Overton went 0-for-6 from beyond the arc and had five turnovers.
“Our guys competed, but we just didn’t make the shots we did last night,” Pearl said. “We didn’t execute like we did the night before.”
Auburn now returns home after a six-day trip to Greece.
“It was great,” Pearl said of the trip. “We have really good film of the guys we were able to play. Obviously, not having the depth we have currently on the roster, it showed in the second game. If we had Narcisse and Mantas and George and Owen, things probably would have been different.”
STATS
- Bukky Oboye: 17 pts, 7-9 FG, 8 reb, 4 blk, 1 TO
- Adam Olsen: 14 pts, 4-7 3pt FG, 7 reb, 1 stl, 2 TO
- Kevin Overton: 11 pts, 0-6 3pt FG, 3 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 5 TO
- Thomas Dowd: 8 pts, 1-5 3pt FG, 18 reb, 4 ast, 4 TO
- Caleb Williams: 6 pts, 1-5 3pt FG, 4 ast, 4 reb, 2 stl, 6 TO
- Tahaad Pettiford: 5 pts, 4 ast, 3 reb, 1 stl, 1 blk, 1 TO
- Blake Muschalek: 5 pts, 5-5 FT, 3 reb, 2 ast, 3 TO
- Simon Walker: 2 pts, 1 ast
