After a spectacular non-conference portion of the season, Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers have opened up SEC play with a statement victory.
Auburn defeated Missouri 84-68 in front of a packed Neville Arena on Saturday to earn its thirteenth win of the season. The blowout victory in ‘The Jungle’ was also Auburn’s second against Tiger counterparts. Johni Broome and company previously defeated Memphis in the ‘Maui Invitational’ championship earlier this season.
Broome, who continues to pace the field in the ‘Wooden Award’ race, had himself another fantastic performance in the SEC opener. The senior was the only player to reach double figures in the first half, finishing the frame with 13 points before ending the contest with a game-high 24 points to go along with 7 rebounds. Saturday marked the ninth time this season Auburn’s leading scorer had eclipsed the 20 point threshold this season. The total now gives Broome more 20+ point games than he had during the entirety of his All-SEC campaign a year ago.
Auburn, like it normally has so far this season, received most of its remaining offensive production from the backcourt trio of [autotag]Chad Baker-Mazara[/autotag], [autotag]Tahaad Pettiford[/autotag], and [autotag]Miles Kelly[/autotag]. The grouping of gifted guards combined for 29 to help the Tigers pull away in the contest. [autotag]Denver Jones[/autotag] also added 9 points and a game-high 7 assists, doing most of his work in the second half.
While Auburn’s scoring continues to be historically outstanding, the defense was once again phenomenal on Saturday night. Led by [autotag]Dylan Cardwell[/autotag]’s 3 first half rejections, Auburn held Missouri to a season low 11 field goals in the first half. The away team’s offensive output only got worse in the second frame, as senior Tamar Bates 8 and his team shot just 38% from the field on their way to 68 points.
Auburn now heads into its first conference road matchup of the season with even more momentum than it had to finish 2024. While Texas is certain to give the Tigers a solidly competitive game on Tuesday, Bruce Pearl’s team has shown it will be extremely difficult to beat this season.
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