Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl was transparent during his Monday morning press conference as he previewed Tuesday night’s game against Texas A&M — the Tigers’ first SEC matchup within the confines of Neville Arena.

“I suppose if there was a tough matchup for Auburn basketball over the last few years it would be Texas A&M,” Pearl said, adding that the Aggies have won five of the last six meetings. “So they’ve clearly had our number.”

But in front of what Pearl said was a record-breaking student crowd Tuesday night, it was the Tigers who had the Aggies number as Auburn pulled away late to polish off a 66-55 win over Texas A&M.

Tuesday night’s win at Neville Arena increased Auburn’s double-digit win streak out to eight games as Auburn veteran Jaylin Williams led the way with 22 points and eight rebounds.

Here are takeaways from the Auburn’s second SEC game of the season.

Tigers stifle Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV

Texas A&M junior guard Wade Taylor IV was named the SEC’s preseason Player of the Year during SEC Media Days in mid-October after averaging more than 16 points and 30 minutes per game during the 2022-23 season.

Coming into Tuesday night, Taylor had evidently picked up right where he left off last season as he walked into Neville Arena averaging 18 points and 31 minutes per game this season.

“Taylor is preseason Player of the Year,” Pearl said Monday. “He had 34 against the best defensive team in the country in Houston. So he’s capable every possession, any possession.”

Against the Tigers, however, Wade didn’t look like the SEC’s preseason Player of the Year, the player who scored 34 points against Houston or a player who is capable “every possession, any possession.”

In the first half of Tuesday’s game, Taylor was held scoreless as he went 0-for-7 from the field, which included an 0-for-4 effort from beyond the arc. Instead, the only stats Taylor tallied in the first period of play was a pair of turnovers, a pair of fouls and a trio of rebounds in 17 minutes of play.

It wasn’t until the the second half, with 16:39 to play, that Taylor finally recorded his first points of the game with a pair of made free throws.

Taylor went on to finish the night with just eight points on a 2-for-16 performance from the field. Of Taylor’s eight points, four came from the free throw line.

And against the Tigers’, Taylor’s night was a microcosm of the Aggies’ night as a team. After coming into the game with an average field goal percentage of 40.8%, Texas A&M shot the ball at a mere 29% clip Tuesday night.

“When you hold a team in this league to 55 points, when you hold a team in this league to (29%) shooting… I challenged my guards, but Wade Taylor is the preseason SEC Player of the Year. He was 2 of 16, 0 for 8 from 3,” Pearl said.

“So, yeah. We sent them to the foul line. But man. I thought our guards did a tremendous job defensively, and if we can continue to guard and get a little bit of offense from our defense, that’s going to be the key, consistently, to winning each night.”

Auburn hangs around with the best on the boards

The Aggies are good on the glass. Like, really, really good on the glass.

Coming into Tuesday night, Texas A&M ranked as the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in the country as it averaged more than 18 offensive boards per game.

“They’re the best offensive rebounding team in the country,” Pearl said Monday. “Historically, if they continue at this pace — they’re rebounding 45-46 percent of their misses — that means roughly half the time they shoot, they go get it. Half the time they miss a free throw, they go get it.”

The Aggies also ranked eighth in total rebounds with an average of just less than 43 rebounds per game.

And in the rebounding category, the Tigers fell behind early as the Aggies started the game with a 7-1 advantage on the glass. That number eventually swelled to a 14-5 advantage later in the first half.

But as the game continued to unfold, Auburn continued to attack the glass.

By halftime, the Tigers had tightened the rebounding gap to a 26-21 margin in favor of the Aggies.

Down the stretch, Texas A&M fell back to what they do best and outrebounded Auburn 18-13, giving the Aggies a 44-34 rebound advantage, which was on par with their season-average +10 rebound margin.

Aggies silenced by Tigers in final minutes

Texas A&M’s Henry Coleman III — who finished as the Aggies leading scorer with 17 points — made a layup with 9:15 seconds to play in the second half to give the Aggies a 48-46 lead.

And that would be the last time the Aggies scored a field goal in Tuesday night’s game, meaning the Tigers held their opponent scoreless from the field for more than nine minutes of action.

In those nine minutes, Auburn’s defense sat back on its heels and forced eight turnovers down the stretch, which ballooned its game total to 19 total turnovers.

“You’ve got to be able to make plays,” Pearl said. “We turned them over 19 times, so there were a couple of key turnovers against pressure. The under-basket out-of-bounds, we turned them over. Chad (Baker-Mazara) made two big plays. Two big possessions.”

Despite Texas A&M’s offensive struggles in the final nine minutes, the Aggies were still able to add to their point total as the Tigers were whistled for shooting fouls, sending Texas A&M to the line four different times. The Aggies finished the night 16-for-19 from the free throw line.

“Dang man, maybe we should just stop fouling,” Williams joked. “We fouled them a little bit down the stretch but we knew if we stayed in front of those guards, they couldn’t beat us.”