Auburn guard Lior Berman suffered season-ending ACL injury vs. Mississippi State

Auburn guard Lior Berman suffered an ACL injury Saturday night and is expected to be out for the rest of the season, according to Auburn Live’s Justin Hokanson.

Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl appeared pretty dejected postgame about Berman’s injury. In the moment, Auburn lost a key player who rapidly improved throughout the season.

“He’s been playing really, really well,” Pearl said. “I’m so disappointed for him. He knew we were committed to him being in the rotation for the rest of the year. I’m a little down about that.”

Members of the Tigers training staff rushed to check up on Berman as he grabbed his knee and continued to wince in pain. Berman eventually was helped off the court to a standing ovation as he favored his right knee.

Berman walked on to Auburn’s roster in the 2019-20 season and slowly worked his way to a larger role over the past four seasons. Pearl rewarded him by placing him on full scholarship ahead of this season, Berman’s fifth with the team.

The 6-foot-4 guard hasn’t played a ton of minutes this season, averaging just 6.3 per game. However, the 27 games he has appeared in are more than any other season of his career. He’s managed 1.6 points and 1.2 rebounds per game as well.

Lior Berman out for season with torn ACL

Auburn went on to a 78-63 win against the Bulldogs as it was in control for most of the afternoon. Johni Broome led the Tigers with 17 points and six rebounds as four of Auburn’s five starters reached double figures in scoring.

Denver Jones chipped in 15 points while Jaylin Williams had 10 points and two blocks in his second game back from injury. Auburn jumped out to a 39-22 advantage by halftime and never trailed the entire game.

With the win, the Tigers improved to 22-7 (11-5 SEC) and rank fourth in the conference standings. They now have two regular season games remaining, beginning with a matchup against Missouri at 8 p.m. CT on Tuesday.