Kevin Overton steps up in Auburn's win over Texas

The Auburn Tigers had to overcome adversity in its matchup against the Texas Longhorns on Wednesday night, and Kevin Overton made an impact in the contest.

Overton had to face some adversity of his own along the way during the game.

"KO gets a really bad technical foul in the first half, out of frustration," head coach Steven Pearl said. "KO in the past would have had a hard time responding to that. I said, ‘KO, we don’t do that.’ And he looked at me, he said, ‘You’re right.’ Then, the next possession, I said, ‘Hey, go pat him on the butt and say you’re sorry.’ He went over there patting the guy, and Vlad (Vladimir Yoyard-Tadal) responded really well to it,​ that’s not always the case with officials."

After that moment, Overton was able to focus and make an impact, having one of the best performances he has put together in a Tigers uniform.

"Then, KO is able to come back and play really well offensively," Pearl said. "So when he makes shots, our offense is way different. Obviously, we don’t win tonight if he and Keyshawn Hall don’t make eight threes. He’s capable of doing that, and I know it’s in there. I don’t necessarily need it in the last games, as we did have an advantage driving it into the rim."

Texas started the game on a big run, and Overton helped his team prevent the deficit from becoming too large early, giving it the chance to make a comeback and add a tally to the win column when the final buzzer sounded.

"I panicked the most when that started happening," Overton said. "I am telling you guys, we were fixing to just let him go one-on-one if this is going to happen. I think that was the game plan, and it worked. We knew just percentage-wise what they shot, so it was not really a huge emphasis to take away those shots because we knew down the stretch they would help us, and they did. So I had to calm down with that one."

If Overton can play like this consistently, Auburn will look like a different team to finish out the season.