Dylan Cardwell says Tigers in 'must win' part of schedule

[aubiefifty 18,424]

AUBURN, Alabama — As much as Dylan Cardwell wanted to celebrate, he had to go wrangle up his teammates.

Allen Flanigan's poster dunk early against Missouri served as the highlight moment from Auburn's 89-56 obliteration of the visiting Tigers on Tuesday night. It made the rounds on social media, and most everyone inside Neville Arena — from players to fans — lost their mind at the senior's hammer in transition.

But Cardwell was worried about the momentum being broken by a technical foul on Auburn's bench.

"Yohan (Traore) and K.D. (Johnson) ran on the court, and I was trying to avoid getting a tech," Cardwell said Thursday. "So I just shoved Yohan on the baseline toward the photographers. K.D. was out at the 3-point line and I was like dog, we're gonna get a tech. I had to hold K.D. up the whole time. It was worth it.

"That was one of the best dunks I've seen in The Jungle in my time here."

Cardwell's recollection confirmed what Johnson said after the win.

"I almost got a tech for running on the court," Johnson said. "I’m glad Dylan grabbed me and he held me for about 10 seconds. That was crazy. ... You know he had a little anger built up."

Center Johni Broome had a simpler response when asked for his reaction: "Oh, sh--."

To give Auburn a 30-6 lead over Mizzou out of the gates, Flanigan was the beneficiary of a steal by Jaylin Williams, who poked the ball away at Missouri's free-throw line. It ended up right in Flanigan's hands, and he immediately took off in transition. Kaleb Brown was the only defender ahead of him, and Noah Carter, who had the turnover, tried to sprint back and help protect the rim.

But Flanigan had his mind set on a dunk from the moment he got the ball and saw he could beat Brown to the rack. Brown ran with him until Flanigan used his right arm to create space for the dunk. Cardwell said he thought Flanigan was going to get called for an offensive foul.

 

"I was going, and he just kept coming with me," Flanigan said. "I tried to get an angle to get outside. He just kept running so I just gave him a nudge and a little gap opened up. So I jumped. ... I was just trying to get around him so I could get a clear (dunk), but he kept coming."

Brown had faded back under the basket, but Carter attempted to reach a hand in and defend the dunk. Flanigan punched it home as Carter backed away at the last second.

Auburn posted a video of former Jabari Smith, the Tigers' All-American freshman and No. 3 overall draft pick, reacting to Flanigan's dunk on his Instagram story. Smith and Flanigan roomed together during the 2021-22 season, and Flanigan said Smith often helped him rehab from his Achilles injury last preseason.

"We were laughing on the phone," Flanigan said. "He said, 'You're finally dunking now. You want to jump.'"

 

Having taken over as Auburn's starting small forward early in SEC play following Chris Moore's injury, Flanigan has been one of Auburn's most effective two-way players this season, shooting 47.3 percent from the field and 36.9 percent from beyond the arc against conference opponents, while often drawing the opponents' best players defensively, too, because of his size and position on the wing.

"I think the thing is the efficiency," Bruce Pearl said Thursday of Flanigan. "He's shooting a good percentage. Not trying to do too much, but still playing with confidence and being aggressive. Not turning the ball over. Winning his matchup defensively. Rebounding. Just doing all the little things, that's the biggest thing we've been focusing on with Al. It is fun to watch him have a little bit of joy out there."

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[aucanucktiger 1,913]

Of course. We need to lose only 1 of our remaining games and even then we're bubble-ish. Fwiw basketball media this year are being unusually thick - more so than usual - in their big picture analysis. Some really stupid conclusions out there.