2/15/23 Auburn Articles

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[aubiefifty 18,419]

 

[aubiefifty 18,419]

 

[aubiefifty 18,419]

 

[aubiefifty 18,419]

Instant Analysis: Auburn gets back on track with dominant showing against Missouri

Taylor Jones

2–3 minutes

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When a team loses three straight games and four of their last five, it would be safe to assume that said team is frustrated.

On Tuesday, Auburn put those assumptions to bed and proved just how frustrated they had become. Auburn shot 49% from the field and dominated the boards on their way to crushing the visiting Missouri Tigers, 89-56 at Neville Arena.

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Auburn was in control for the entire contest and refused to take their foot off the gas. Auburn held a 7-2 advantage through the first four minutes of the game, then would go on to outscore Missouri 17-2 over a four-minute span to take a 20-point lead, 24-4, with 11:34 remaining in the half.

Auburn took a 45-18 lead into the locker room behind 50% shooting and an outstanding half from K.D. Johnson, who shot 83% from the field on his way to scoring 14 first-half points. Johni Broome ended the half with 11 points and eight rebounds after going 5-for-10 from the field.

Auburn’s commanding effort spilled over into the second half, as they outscored Missouri, 44-38 to solidify the win. Zep Jasper converted a Missouri turnover into a three-pointer to give Auburn the 57-25 lead with 16:16 remaining in the game, which pushed Auburn over the 30-point-lead mark for the first time in the contest.

Lior Berman connected on a three-pointer with 2:10 remaining in the game to put Auburn up 89-50. The 39-point deficit would be Auburn’s largest lead of the game. Berman ended the game with eight points, which ties a career-high. He has scored eight points three times during his four-year career, he last reached the total in Auburn’s 67-49 win over LSU last month.

Broome ended the night as Auburn’s leading scorer and rebounder, recording 20 and 10 respectively. Allen Flanigan was next in line with 16 points, and Johnson followed suit with 15 points.

Auburn will look to keep the momentum going on Saturday by visiting Vanderbilt. Tipoff from Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville is set for 7:30 p.m. CT and can be seen live on SEC Network.

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247sports.com

 

Auburn takes command early and cruises past Missouri

Mark Murphy

6–7 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama–Obviously taking heed of their coach’s pre-game message, which he called Tuesday night’s home game vs. Missouri the most important of the season for the Tigers, Auburn took command early on the way to an 89-56 SEC basketball victory. The win snapped Auburn’s three-game losing streak and improved the Tigers to 18-8 overall and 8-5 in the SEC.

The home team did a lot of things very well. Consider the following:

* Bruce Pearl’s Tigers scored 18 of the game’s first 20 points.

* Auburn pulled in 48 rebounds, 22 more than the visitors. It was the largest rebound margin for the Tigers this season.

* Despite leading by 27 points in the first half, Auburn kept the pressure on and extended the lead to as many as 39 points with 2:10 to play.

* Auburn made 9-18 three-pointers and shot 48.6 percent from the field and 16-20 at the foul line.

* AU held Missouri to 31.6 percent shooting and the league’s top three-point shooting team made 5-22 treys.

* The margin of victory was the largest for the Tigers vs. an SEC team in 10 years since a 2013 victory over Missouri.

* Auburn finished the game with 21 assists, including nine from Wendell Green, who did not have a turnover.

Auburn got a double-double from Johni Broome, who scored 20 points and pulled in 10 rebounds.

Allen Flanigan scored 16 points and K.D. Johnson finished with 15 points. Jaylin Williams finished with nine points, seven rebounds and a strong defensive performance. Dylan Cardwell scored eight points while adding 10 rebounds off the bench. Lior Berman came off the bench to score eight points.

"We spent a lot time this week about not being discourage," Pearl said. "We talked about coming together as brothers...I actually talked to them about story of Joseph and the tribulations and he and his brothers went through."

Pearl added, "The only way we could control our destiny is with our defense," Pearl pointed out. "That is the No. 3 offensive team in the country. They average 82 points per game and when we hold opponents under 73 (points) we are 17-1. So I put that number up–we have to hold them to 73 points and we are going to win. How often in sport can you tell you guys if we just do this we are going to win."

Broome said,  “This is a game we had to win. It was an important game, probably one of the biggest games we had all year just off how our last couple games have been going. I feel like everybody came out here and put in the effort to get after it.”

Johnson credited Pearl with giving the players a good defensive game plan. “We came out and played as hard as we could and you can see the results.” Broome added, “18 points (in the first half) speaks for itself.”

Auburn’s start was strong both defensively and offensively. The Tigers led 19-2 at the 13:06 on a three-pointer by Johnson, who made 4-5 treys off the bench in the first half to score 14 points. He made 5-6 field goals in the first 20 minutes.

The Tigers built the lead to 27 points at intermission, the lowest point total for Missouri in the first half this season as well as the fewest points allowed by the Tigers in the first half this season.

Auburn made it happen by hitting 17-34 (50 percent) of its shots, 6-12 threes and 5-7 free throws. The Tigers were strong on the boards, pulling in 23 in the first half, 10 more than the visitors.

K.D. Johnson hits a three-pointer in the first half. (Photo: Jake Crandall, USA TODAY Sports)

Missouri hit 7-26 field goals in the first half for 26.9 percent, 0-8 from three-point range and 4-6 at the foul line. Missouri turned the ball over 11 times in the first half, seven more than AU, and the visitors were outscored 16-6 on points off of turnovers in the first half.

Auburn outscored Missouri 44-38 in the second half to cruise to a victory to the delight of a Neville Arena crowd who provided a strong homecourt advantage despite it being Valentine’s Day.

Commenting on how his team responded when challenged earlier in the week by their head coach, Pearl said, "Well, you know what? Even if they didn't respond, I would've understood, just because they've had so much fatigue. They were disappointed, but I'm glad they responded the way they did, and I'm glad they got some success. It really wasn't... it really had nothing to do with my challenge. I think it had more to do with Ira Bowman and Mike Burgomaster putting a great game plan together. I think the culture and character of our program–our guys care about trying to make history. We want to try to get to the NCAA Tournament. This helps, but we've still got work to do.""

Glad we shot the ball better," Pearl added. "That's got a chance to give us some confidence moving forward, hopefully."

Johnson, who scored 17 last season at Missouri, asked about how his team was able to bounce back after struggling to win games in February. “Keep getting better," the junior guard said. "You're going to lose some and win some. You have to come in the next day and work harder to focus on being in the next game. We lost a couple, but we've been focused on what's ahead of us and what's next. We keep that mindset and we are going to keep this going and make our way to March.”

Stat of the Game: Auburn finished plus 22 in rebounds and pulled down 16 offensive rebounds, nine more than the visitors.

Worth Noting: Auburn’s previous largest halftime lead was 24 points, 42-24 in the home win over Georgia.

Bench Is Back: Auburn reserves outscored the Missouri reserves 42-24.

Plus/Minus Monsters: Auburn outscored Missouri by 34 points when Jaylin Williams was on the court and by 32 when Allen Flanigan was in the game.

Big Margin: It was the largest margin victory for the Tigers in a SEC game since a 92-58 blowout of Missouri on Jan. 30, 2019.

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247sports.com

 

5 takeaways from Auburn's 89-56 win over Missouri

Nathan King

7–9 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama — Bruce Pearl didn't pull any punches with his team this in terms of setting expectations for Tuesday, reiterating that a matchup with Missouri — as Auburn looked to break out of a rut of five losses in six games — was the team's biggest game of the year thus far.

The Tigers certainly responded Tuesday night in a cathartic victory.

Auburn went on a massive run out of the gates and blistered Mizzou 89-56, snapping a three-game losing streak and remaining firmly in the NCAA Tournament picture.

"This was a game that we had to win," center Johni Broome said postgame. "It was an important game, probably one of the biggest games we've had all year, just how our last couple of games have been going. I feel like everybody came out here and put in the effort to get after it, start of the game to the end."

Here are Auburn Undercover's five takeaways, as the Tigers improved to 8-5 in league play and jumped back into the No. 4 spot in the current SEC standings.

Auburn blitzes Mizzou early, efficient from deep

It was a bit of a late-arriving crowd for a 6 p.m. tip on Valentine’s Day, but Auburn got Neville Arena to its feet in a hurry.

With patient offense, hustling defense and consistent rebounding, the home Tigers opened the game on a 19-2 run. Missouri coach Dennis Gates had to call a timeout after K.D. Johnson nailed a corner 3 to give the Tigers three makes on their first four attempts from downtown.

"Even if they didn't respond, I would've understood, just because they've had so much fatigue," Pearl said of challenging his team ahead of this game. "They were disappointed. But I'm glad they responded the way they did, and I'm glad they got some success. It really had nothing to do with my challenge. I think it had more to do with Ira Bowman and Mike Burgomaster putting a great game plan together. I think the culture and character of our program — our guys care about trying to make history. We want to try to get to the NCAA Tournament. This helps, but we've still got work to do."

On the other end, Auburn flummoxed one of the best offenses in the country, holding Mizzou to misses on nine of its first 10 shots. It took until the 12:50 mark of the first half for the visiting Tigers to make their second field goal of the game.

"Eighteen points (in the first half) speaks for itself," Broome said.

The lead grew to 20 points, 24-4 after Johnson’s second 3-pointer. The lead was as large as 30-6 — highlighted by a poster dunk from Allen Flanigan (16 points) off a turnover.

"I almost got a tech for running on the court," Johnson said of Flanigan's dunk.

Auburn barely slowed down on either end of the floor in the second half. It at one point led 62-25 in a completely dominant performance.

The Tigers were 9-of-18 from the 3-point line for the game, their best percentage of the entire season.

"We made nine; it felt like we made 19, you know?" Pearl said. "I can't believe it. We got open shots. I'm not trying to get the guys to make tough, contested shots. I'm just trying to get them to make open shots. I thought the ball moved really well; the ball didn't stick."

Johnson's first-half takeover

Auburn needed to play with an urgency in a can’t-lose matchup, and Johnson provided all the energy any team could ask for on either side of the floor.

The junior guard came one point shy of tying his season high, finishing with 15 points, his most in SEC play this year. Fourteen of those came in the first half, when he made 4-of-5 shots from beyond the arc.

Johnson’s offensive confidence and on-ball defense, with two steals in the first half, were keys to Auburn’s big run early.

"You’re not going to always have the best nights every night," Johnson said. "The nights that’s tough, just get past that, and the nights that good, just thrive off that and keep going. So that’s what I’m doing right now."

The Tigers' starting 2-guard, Zep Jasper, got in on the offensive action, too, with a couple 3-pointers for 6 points on the night. A defensive specialist, Jasper had made only two shots on 13 attempts over the previous five games.

Auburn corrals elite offense

Just three days ago, Missouri hung 86 points on the road against the best defense in college basketball in a buzzer-beating upset of Tennessee.

Then it was completely handled by Pearl's team Tuesday night.

What entered the matchup as the No. 9 scoring offense in the country (82.1 points per game) was held to 56, its second-fewest in a game all season. Mizzou missed its first eight triples of the game and turned it over the most times in a game (16) in SEC competition this season.

"I thought our techniques and our system matched up really well tonight with Missouri," Pearl said. "It's all about matchups."

The SEC’s top 3-point shooter, Missouri’s leading scorer and Alabama native Kobe Brown, had just 7 points.

Unsurprisingly, Missouri wasn't constricted for the entire game, and it scored 38 points in the second half, thanks in large part to a 5-of-14 shooting clip from beyond the arc after the break.

Rebounding advantage limits Mizzou further

Another method to slow down one of the best offenses in college basketball is to limit its possessions.

Mizzou entered the game as the ninth-worst rebounding team in the country, and Auburn took full advantage. Led by another double-double for Broome, who topped all scorers with 20 points and 10 boards, Auburn finished plus-22 on the glass (48-26), its best margin of the season. Both Broome and backup center Dylan Cardwell had five offensive boards to lead an 16-7 edge in offensive rebounds, too.

Cardwell had 8 points and 10 boards for a career high in rebounding.

"One of Missouri's very few weaknesses is rebounding," Pearl said. "They're a little undersized. So we really emphasized going inside and creating some switches, they switch everything. Dylan and Johni were able to get some matchups with some guards and rebound and score over them."

Broome exited the game for several minutes after falling to the court following a fast-break dunk early in the second half, but returned with 13 minutes to play. The Morehead State transfer has now registered a double-double in eight of 13 SEC games.

He left the game after another breakaway dunk with just under 10 minutes left, and this time he went to the locker room after he appeared to have his left ankle examined. Considering he checked out when Auburn was up by 32, Broome came back from the locker room but didn't return to the game. Broome said postgame he's fine.

The thinned-out depth at center allowed freshman Yohan Traore to get some burn, with 5 minutes down the stretch.

"We dominated at the 5 spot, which we needed to," Pearl said. "We won the 4 spot. We literally won every position tonight."

No Green needed

Auburn showed off the diversity of its lineup Tuesday, and arguably the team's most important offensive player this season didn't have to do much scoring.

Wendell Green Jr. didn't make a shot all game (0-for-4), finishing with 5 points from the free-throw line. He instead contributed with nine assists, his second-most in a game all season, and zero turnovers — though Auburn as a team had 14 turnovers, its most in a game since it had 18 in the win over Mississippi State last month.

[aubiefifty 18,419]

morning folks! i just wanted to say war eagle and what a fun game last night! it was such a treat.