Auburn went out early in the SEC men’s basketball tournament here in Nashville, but it’s going to be hard to keep Chris Moore off my all-tournament team.

Moore’s DNA is all over this SEC family get-together, and I don’t just mean that figuratively. He bled real blood all over the court against Arkansas, busting his chin open in the first half, and then busting it back open after they stitched his face up and gave him a new jersey.

I’m a sucker for the effort guys. Auburn’s Moore was the effort king on the first full day of the SEC tournament.

Auburn played Arkansas on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena. Great game, but another bitter loss for this almost-good-enough Auburn team.

Auburn was there at the end against Alabama on the big stage last week, and Auburn was there again in the final minutes against Arkansas. So close. The Tigers are right there at the end more often than not thanks to players like Moore. Auburn lost this close one 76-73. Even in a loss, though, Moore turned in an all-everything shift.

RELATED: Bruce Pearl feels ‘so badly’ for Auburn fans

RELATED: Observations from Auburn’s loss

RELATED: Barkley says Brandon Miller got lucky

Maybe that’s the story for Auburn this season. We’ll see. The most important stage remains, the NCAA Tournament, and Auburn feels like a nine seed. On this season, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said, “A lesser-character team would have just quit, and this team hasn’t.”

Seven of Auburn’s 12 losses this season have been by five or fewer points. In the end, maybe all that fight will better prepare the Tigers for the NCAA Tournament. This team has some limitations, though. Against Arkansas, Auburn was out-rebounded 37-19.

“Their athleticism and length bothered us,” Pearl said.

The Auburn-Arkansas matchup was an interesting one for the basketball junkies among us. Auburn was the seven-seed of the tournament, and Arkansas was seeded 10. Auburn (20-12) overachieved this season, and Arkansas (20-12) was the exact opposite. If Auburn has an identity as a team, then it would be toughness. Arkansas’ scouting report would be a collection of highly gifted players who haven’t really figured out how to play well together as a team.

The Hogs are getting there, though. They’ll play two-seed Texas A&M at 6 p.m. on Friday.

More talented at key positions, Arkansas pulled ahead of Auburn early at the beginning of the first and second halves. Auburn was down 15 with 14 minutes to go, but the Tigers roared back. It was Moore who teammate Johnson credited with the rally. Moore lit into his buddies on the bench, and then Moore made some breathtaking hustle plays that pushed Auburn to the edge of victory. With blood dripping down his face and all over his jersey, Moore took a charge that helped Auburn make it a one possession game. After the offensive foul by Arkansas’ Anthony Black, Auburn’s Johni Broome cut the Hogs’ lead to 70-67 with 3:32 to go.

The refs kept pausing the game every time Moore would play a few minutes. He was dripping blood all over the parquet.

“He’s a warrior,” said Johnson, who led Auburn with 20 points in 29 minutes off the bench. “Everybody’s not going to get him around the country. It don’t matter if he’s playing or not playing, he’s going to have a way to affect the game.

“He kinda was the main reason we started our energy off. He got on us pretty hard as a team without even the coaches doing it, so he kind of picked us up in a big way. He came up major this game.”

I looked down at the box score before I started writing this column, and was shocked to see that Moore only played nine minutes. It felt like so much more, and I don’t just mean all the blood delays.

Moore is a 6-6 junior forward from West Memphis, Arkansas. The other side of the big river. The tough-as-a-tugboat side apparently. What’s Pearl’s favorite Moore story?

“I think the fact that he bleeds in games more than any player I’ve coached,” Pearl said. “Just blood on the floor, man. He’s just a hard-playing dude. Great kid. Great teammate.

“I’ll tell you what. If you could just get a picture of Chris Moore and say that is Auburn basketball, that represents Auburn basketball, I’d be OK with that.”

Moore says he knows he’s played a good game if he bleeds so much he has to change jerseys. Moore wears No.5 when he starts games, but sometimes he finishes wearing No.41. It’s a neat trick. No.41 is the “blood alternate.” I don’t know if that’s the actual name. I’m just making it up. This is how proper basketball traditions are born. Everyone in The Jungle student section next season at Auburn games should wear No.41s drizzled with blood.

Fake blood, to be clear, but Tiger blood all the same.

“I put that No.41 jersey on, I just make spectacular plays,” Moore said. “It’s crazy.”

No.41 Chris Moore grabbed a steal against Arkansas with under three minutes to play and drew a foul. At that point, Auburn was down 70-68. Moore went to the line and made his first foul shot. He then missed his second, but got his own rebound like he was Teen Wolf or something.

That free throw represented Moore’s only point of the game. That rebound was his only board. That steal was his only rip, too. Greatest triple-single of all-time.

Pearl is one of the best basketball coaches in the country, so it’s not like I can suggest anything he hasn’t already considered. I just have one request, though, going into the NCAA Tournament. Please find No.5 — who is sometimes No.41 — more minutes.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.