Auburn stepped into its SEC opener carrying momentum, and Keyshawn Hall made sure history tagged along. The left-handed forward became Auburn’s first player since 1993–94 to enter conference play averaging 20 points per game, and kept the trend alive with 32 on the night. In the end, though, numbers alone couldn’t tilt the outcome.

Auburn fans, head coach Steven Pearl, and an exhausted Hall – all believed the Tigers had just evened out their record over the last four games when KeShawn Murphy buried what looked like a 91–90 game-winner against Texas A&M. But then the review came in, and the mood flipped instantly.

Texas A&M Aggies had stormed all the way back from a 16-point second-half deficit and were clinging to a 90–88 lead with two seconds left. Guard Pop Isaacs stepped to the free-throw line, missed the first, then intentionally fired the second hard at the rim to drain the clock.

The Tigers grabbed the rebound and launched a desperate heave that came up short. But the drama wasn’t over. Officials stopped play to review whether Isaacs’ intentional miss had touched the rim. After review, they ruled it had not. The result? Auburn ball, out of bounds, 70 feet from the basket with just 0.6 seconds left.

And then, in the blink of an eye, the impossible unfolded.

KeShawn Murphy caught the inbounds pass, turned, and hit a 35-foot shot near midcourt. The on-court officials initially ruled it good, giving the Auburn Tigers a 91–90 lead and sending the arena into a frenzy. However, after review, the basket was overturned and ruled no good. As a result, the Texas A&M Aggies held on for a 90–88 win.

Unsurprisingly, the decision did not sit well with the crowd. Bottles were thrown inside Neville Arena, where the 9,121 fans in attendance had just witnessed what many felt was nothing short of a robbery.

There was added frustration for Auburn fans watching their team squander a 16-point lead, especially after controlling the paint for most of the night. Auburn won the rebounding battle 40–34 and outscored Texas A&M 38–34 in the paint, yet still couldn’t close it out. Keyshawn Hall led the way with 32 points and 12 rebounds, while Kevin Overton added 16.

However, time running out wasn’t the only thing that burned Auburn. Early in the second half, it looked like the Tigers were shaking off the Georgia loss, going on a 10–2 run in the opening five minutes and taking full control of the game.

Then, up 61–45, Auburn suddenly lost its footing. Two careless inbound turnovers right under the rim turned into instant regret, with Texas A&M splashing back-to-back threes. Steven Pearl tried to stop the bleeding with a timeout, but it didn’t help. The Tigers coughed it up again, and the Aggies cashed in again to slice the lead to 61–54 in a blink.

From there, things unraveled for the Tigers. Texas A&M rattled off a stunning 31–6 run in under seven minutes, turning a comfortable Auburn lead into a double-digit hole. The Tigers never gave up, yes, but later on, Pearl pointed straight to the turnovers, suggesting that if Auburn had simply taken care of the ball, it never would’ve needed a miracle at the buzzer in the first place.

“I asked the guys, how many seconds does it take to turn the ball over?” Pearl said. “A second, just to make it simple. We let three seconds impact eight minutes of basketball. Think about that. You let three seconds impact eight minutes of basketball.

“Come on, man. You can’t do that.”

Turnovers weren’t the only issue, though. Auburn also couldn’t buy a bucket from deep, despite holding the nation’s 11th-best three-point shooting teams to four triples before halftime.

Throughout the entire stretch, Auburn shot only 27% from beyond the arc, while Texas A&M caught fire. The Aggies knocked down six threes in a stretch of under six minutes, finishing the night with 13 total. They shot 52.9% from deep in the second half, and 43% overall, well above the 34.2% Auburn usually allows.

Still and all, this wasn’t an outcome the staff was ready to accept.

Auburn Head Coach Demands More Clarity From Officials

Inside the arena, everyone in orange and blue believed the shot was good. The frustration only grew when the official crew of Byron Jarrett, Todd Austin, and Courtney Green announced the decision and immediately left the floor, offering no further explanation.

Steven Pearl arrived late to the postgame press conference, as members of the Auburn Tigers staff were busy on the phone with SEC officials trying to get clarity on the ruling. Some within the program still believed the ball had left KeShawn Murphy’s hands before the clock hit zero, adding to the lingering frustration surrounding the decision.

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“There was zero communication,” Pearl said. “They didn’t say a word. They just said it was no good and went off the floor. I probably wouldn’t want to talk to me in that moment anyway. I get why they’d run away from me. Just from the angles I saw, it looked like it was off his fingers. But I don’t have all the same angles they have.”

According to reporter Nathan King, some members of the Auburn staff remained inside Neville Arena long after the game ended, continuing to make calls and rewatch the footage multiple times in an effort to build a case that the shot should have counted.