Senior forward Korvotney Barber returned with a bang for Auburn’s basketball team Friday night.
Barber, who was lost to a broken hand after 10 games last season, tied his career-high with 22 points to lead the Tigers to a season-opening 75-60 victory over Missouri State before an announced crowd of 5,148 at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.
“I’m excited to be back,” Barber said. “I still have a ways to go. I still get a little winded, especially when a team makes you guard the whole shot clock like they did.”
Barber also had five rebounds, two blocks and an assist. Junior college transfer guard Tay Walller scored 14 points and had four assists. After missing his first three 3-point tries, he was 4-for-5. Junior Lucas Hargrove had 13 points. Junior college transfer center Brendon Knox scored 10 points. Guard Quantez Robertson scored seven points, had a team-high seven rebounds and four assists.
Auburn dominated inside, getting 42 points in the paint to Missouri State’s 14. But the Bears’ hot 3-point shooting in the second half and Auburn’s dreadful free throw shooting kept it close until late in the game.
Eleven of Missouri State’s 20 field goals were from 3-point range. The Bears hit seven of their first nine 3-point tries in the second half. Auburn was just 14-of-28 from the free throw line, and it making 4-of-5 down the stretch for it to be that good.
With Missouri State playing deliberately, running the shot clock down on almost every possession, Auburn scored the last seven points of the first half to take a 34-25 lead to the locker room and the last eight points of the game to win going away.
“I told our team at halftime, ‘It’s great. It’s going to be like a 40-minute defensive drill,’” Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said. “They don’t like that too much, but I liked it.
“We shot poorly from the foul line or I thought we would have won a little bit easily. … They are a good basketball team. Tthey are used to winning and they weren’t going to go away. We were able to get the ball inside a little bit.”
Junior DeWayne Reed went down with an apparent sprained ankle with 2:20 left in the game. His status is uncertain. Senior Rasheem Barrett, who has been sidelined with a groin injury, played seven minutes but was not effective.
Chris Cooks scored 18 points to lead Missouri State. Spencer Laurie and Cardell McFarland added 14 points apiece.
