AU HOOPS: Reed sits; Tigers lose

DeWayne Reed walked off the court Saturday and shot a wry smile at someone in the Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum stands before pushing on through the Northeast tunnel.

The junior point guard left the floor after the Tigers’ 82-75 loss to Vanderbilt with his teammates, but he didn’t arrive at the proper time with them earlier in the morning.

Reed didn’t start, entered midway through the first half and was yanked three minutes later. He sat the entire second half on the bench with a towel on his head while Vanderbilt torched the Tigers from the perimeter.

“He was late,” coach Jeff Lebo said. “I didn’t like his energy, and I sat him.”

It was unclear how late Reed was for Saturday’s 1 p.m. tip. Neither of the Auburn players made available to the media said they knew.

Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said he saw Reed walk to the court after the rest of Auburn’s players had already stretched.

“He was late enough not to play,” forward Lucas Hargrove said.

Maybe Auburn (13-8, 2-4 SEC) would have snapped its 12-game losing streak to SEC East foes with Reed available or maybe it wouldn’t. Reed’s normally tough defense might not have been enough to cool the Commodores, who shot 61 percent from the field and knocked down five big 3’s in the second half.

But was it a difference-maker?

“Absolutely,” Stallings said. “Absolutely.

“It’s difficult when you take a significant piece out of your lineup.”

A somewhat surprising emergence for Auburn this season, Reed came into Saturday’s game averaging 18.1 points in the past eight games. For the year, he is the team leader in points (14.0), assists (4.0), 3-point field goal percentage (35.8) and steals.

Lebo said there would be no further disciplinary action against Reed “unless he’s late again.”

“It’s a heck of a lesson to learn for our team,” Lebo said, “no doubt about that.”

Without Reed, Lebo inserted Quantez Robertson at the point Saturday. Robertson showed a similar ability to set up players for open looks, as he dished out seven assists, but was unable to threaten the Commodores (13-8, 2-5) with much offense of his own.

But Reed’s three minutes of action had larger ramifications. Him simply not being in the lineup put the Tigers a man down and forced Robertson into a game-high 37 minutes.

“It threw the rotation off a little bit,” Hargrove said. “But other than that we still have other players on the court. We just didn’t pull it out.”

The Tigers started slow and never grasped control at any point Saturday.

Rasheem Barrett carried the offensive load on his way to a career-high 29 points, but he didn’t get much support from his teammates.

Vanderbilt’s A.J. Ogilvy and Festus Ezeli teamed up to limit Korvotney Barber’s touches around the hoop, as the Auburn bigman attempted just two shots — making both — in the second half. Aside from a number of clutch 3’s down the stretch from Hargrove, which kept the Tigers within striking
distance, Auburn’s perimeter shooters were largely muted throughout the game.

Tay Waller and Robertson were a combined 2-of-10 from 3-point range. Frankie Sullivan hit two 3’s in the first half, but attempted just one shot from the field in the second.

“Offensively, we have got to get more consistent,” Hargrove said. “There were times during the game where we were really hot, but at other times we would go five to six minutes without even scoring at all.”

Vanderbilt had no such trouble, particularly Jermaine Beal.

Beal knocked down seven of his eight 3-point attempts on his way to 21 points. He hit back-to-back 3’s with less than three minutes to play to turn a 70-70 tie into a 6-point advantage.

Beal would have likely been the responsibility of Reed had he played. But it’s all hindsight as to what difference that would have made.

“There are certain things that you can’t do when you are part of a team,” Barrett said. “He has to realize that everything you do, good or bad, reflects the whole team and it hurts the whole team.”

agribble@oanow.com | 737-2561

The star: Jermaine Beal knocked down 7-of-8 3-point attempts to lead the Commodores with 21 points.
The co-star: A.J. Ogilvy bodied up with Korvotney Barber on defense and added 14 points of his own.
Auburn’s best: Rasheem Barrett scored a career-high 29 points.
It was over when ... : Vanderbilt’s Brad Tinsley knocked down a 3 with 36 seconds to play to stretch the Commodores’ lead to five.
Bang for his buck: Auburn reserve Brendon Knox played five minutes and picked up four fouls.