By Kenneth Cross
The Auburn Tigers came into Tuesday night’s 89-56 win over Missouri with a major need for a win after losing five out of six in what is a landmine of talented and challenging teams in every matchup in the SEC.
The Tigers put together potentially their best outing of the season as they shot 48.5 percent from the field and made 9-of-18 three-point shots inside of their offensive scheme. Flip that and the defense held Missouri to just 31.6 percent as they were only 5-of-22 from there.
In the end, this was a solid win that kept Auburn from falling out of the top portal in the SEC standings.
“When we hold teams to 73 points or less, we are 17-1,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. “We control our own destiny.”
Much of the defensive effort had to do with how Jaylin Williams was able to handle Missouri leading scorer Kobe Brown, who came in averaging 16.1 points per game. Brown only found seven points on 3-of-7 shooting.
“Jaylin Williams did a phenomenal job on Kobe,” commented Pearl. “Kobe is a great player. They’re friends and know each other well and they played AAU ball together.”
If the Tigers can shoot as they did on Tuesday, they will be capable of putting together a string of wins that can take them deep into the tournament season in March.
“I was really proud of the guys because they had worked so hard the last couple of weeks, but they had no reward,” Pearl said. “Another good team (Missouri) coming in and another tough preparation.
Alan Flanigan and KD Johnson bookended Auburn’s opening 19-2 start over the first seven minutes and Johni Broom scored six points in that mix. Auburn produced it’s biggest lead of the evening at 89-50 when Lior Berman hit a three with 2:10 remaining in the game.
Broome led Auburn with 20 points while Flanigan posted 16 and Johnson netted 15.
It was a big confidence builder for Johnson as well as the team in general. He made four of the Tigers’ nine triples as he has struggled in shooting 36.3 percent from the floor.
“The watershed opened up a little bit more when he gets a little bit more of a lift on his shot,” said Pearl. “KD doesn’t trust me all the time. Give Marquis Daniels credit. He is my director of player development and he is constantly in the ears or our players about their trails and tribulations and their challenge.”
Johnson has put up double figures in points in five of the last six games as he has averaged 10.8 points in those while making 44 percent of his shots. The four triples were the most Johnson had made as he had made only five over the nine games before Tuesday’s win.
“We made nine and it felt like we made 19,” noted Pearl. “We got open shots. I thought the ball moved and it didn’t stick. No matter what you’re running, when you are making shots, you are scoring points.”
Broome posted his double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds as he was a tough matchup for Missouri in making 8-of-13 shots. He had nine of his points over the first 10 minutes of the second half as his dunk gave Auburn a 70-38 lead with 9:39 to play.
“We need Johni to be dominant on the inside,” said Pearl. “We had an advantage at the 5 tonight. We emphasized going inside and we created switches because they switch everything.”
Auburn gets the 8:30 EST/7:30 CST matchup in Nashville against resurgent Vanderbilt on Saturday evening. As the Tigers are fatigued, the wait until the end of the day could be in their favor.
“Our guys are tired,” explained Pearl. “Look at the road we have had at Texas A&M and at Tennessee and vs. Alabama at home. A lot of great teams, physical teams, a lot of travel and short prep after the Alabama game.”