FINAL @A&M 81, Auburn 62

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/matthewcstevens/status/832259190655684609

After watching his team give up the most points by an opponent in Auburn Arena, Bruce Pearl had to come clean on a harsh truth about his roster.

In the his postgame media conference, Pearl all but admitted this is the kind of defense he expects Auburn to play for the rest of the 2016-17 season and there isn't much he or anybody else not in a jersey can do about it.

Most of our players are better offensively than they are defensively,"  Pearl said almost admitting his team's flaws might be unfixable following a 114-95 loss to No. 13 Florida on Tuesday night. "So could there be an adjustment with personnel in the second half? It's possible. If I thought it was going to be just personnel, I would've made those changes beforehand.

"I know you guys are going to smash me, and that's fine," Pearl said. "I deserve to get smashed. You can smash me all you want. We had a 23-point lead on the road at Ole Miss. We should have won the game, we didn't. They played great, we didn't. You can definitely hold me accountable for not doing it. Blame it on me, that's fine. I can handle that.

"This program is in good shape," Pearl said when asked about giving up the most points in the last 23 years of Auburn basketball. "So I'm not worried about the 23-year history of the program."

A&M is coming off a Thursday evening road loss to Vandy.

Brent Zwerneman ‏@BrentZwerneman 3h3 hours ago

Texas A&M plays one of its best games of season in 81-62 win over Auburn. Aggies shoot season-high 69% from floor to move to 14-12 (6-8).

A&M's 68.9 percent from the field (31 of 45) is believed to be 3rd best in a game in school history. Aggies beat Auburn 81-62.