Javon Pickett couldn't believe it. The whistle blew and the Missouri junior thought what pretty much everyone else in the building thought.
"When it first happened, I thought they knew (the foul) was on him," Pickett said. "I saw they called it on me, I was just like, 'What?'"
But the officials whistled Pickett, who had been tossed to the floor by Auburn freshman Devan Cambridge, for a foul. It was going to be the ninth against the Tigers in the second half, putting Auburn on the verge of the double bonus with 10:01 to play. Auburn, meanwhile, had been called for only three fouls in the second half.
As Pickett bounced up from the floor and took a step in the direction of the official, freshman Kobe Brown put him in a bear hug.
"I was telling him 'Just keep your head,'" Brown said. "They want you to flare up so they can get free throws and the ball back. Just keep your head and stay with the team.
"I didn't want Javon to do anything crazy."
As boos (and some of the Tiger tails that had been handed out in the student section) rained down, the three officials got together to go to the replay monitor and attempt to both make sense of what had just happened and regain some semblance of control in a game in which they were quickly losing it.
"After I saw that the guy had kind of stepped on him, I just kind of grabbed everybody and tried to get everybody over to the bench," Dru Smith said. "I was just trying to get us back cause obviously something was going to go against them. Just get us back to our bench and just try to calm everybody down."
The replay showed what most initially thought they had seen.
"I don't know that it was a foul on Missouri, but I kind of thought it was," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "Then I was told there was no foul and my question was if there was no foul then why are we going to the monitor. So I really never got an explanation.
"I still don't know the answer."
The eventual result was no foul on Pickett followed by a Flagrant One for a hook and hold on Cambridge and then a technical on Cambridge for stepping over (on?) Pickett after the play.
"Coach said just go out there and keep playing," Pickett said. "Just make sure I go out there and play smart, don't get off into that. I shot the free throws. He was just telling me to stay calm. The whole team was telling me to stay calm and knock those down."
Pickett made one of the two free throws for the flagrant foul. Dru Smith then made both technicals and Torrence Watson sank a three-pointer from the wing for his only points of the game on the ensuing Missouri possession. All told, Mizzou scored six points in 18 seconds, growing its lead from ten to 16 with 9:43 to play. Auburn did not get closer than ten the rest of the way.
"It was good for us," Cuonzo Martin said. "It changed the momentum somewhat. You calm them down, make the free throws, try to get stops defensively."
"We were up anyway, but that's just more momentum that goes our way," Pickett said. "We were able to execute when we got the ball back and that was all that mattered. We did what we were supposed to do."
Missouri played its most complete game of the season. Perhaps the home-standing Tigers would have won this one anyway. But the 18 second sequence gave the Tigers some extra breathing room and a bit of a reset, a chance to calm themselves in an arena that was as loud as it has been all season, albeit with most of the noise being directed at the three guys wearing striped shirts.
"I love the fans," Xavier Pinson said. "Whatever they do, I'm with it. They throw (things) on the court, oh well.
"It still gets the fans more into the game and more excited and the energy was there. I can't really say anything about it."
"There was Tiger tails coming down on to the court almost," Dru Smith said. "I think we were able to keep our poise and I think coach Martin did a good job of just calming everybody down."
Missouri closed it out by trading baskets (mostly one-pointers from 15 feet away) with Auburn the rest of the way in a game that featured 56 fouls, three technicals, 75 free throws and a final ten minutes that last 45 minutes of real time.
After the game, Cuonzo Martin was asked about the encouraging signs he has seen from his team in the last two games. "Last three games?" he interrupted. Indeed, in games against Arkansas, LSU and Auburn, Missouri has held the lead for more than 102 of the 125 minutes played. The Tigers have trailed for just 15 minutes and 11 seconds.
The win moved Missouri into a tie with Arkansas and Ole Miss for 10th place in the league. The Rebels come to Columbia on Tuesday night. Win that one and the Tigers are in position to avoid playing on Wednesday night in the conference tournament. Not yet where they want to be, but in a much better place than they were two weeks ago.
"They're a good team," Martin said of Auburn. "But we're a good team.
"Like I tell our guys, you're good enough. You have to believe you're good enough."
