12/21/22 Articles

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Tigers hope to 'rise to the challenge' at Washington

Mark Murphy

5–6 minutes

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The Auburn basketball Tigers will look return home with a split in games vs. Pac-12 opponents as they play at Washington for the first time in program history. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CST on Wednesday and the game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.

A sellout crowd at the 10,000-seat Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle is expected for just the second-ever meeting between the 23rd-ranked Tigers and the Huskies in hoops. Auburn handled Washington 88-66 on Nov. 9, 2018 and this is the return game for the home-and-home series.

“They say it is going to be a sellout, which is really interesting, so it will be our first hostile environment,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl pointed out. He noted that for Sunday’s road game, a 74-71 loss in Los Angeles to USC, in the crowd of 4,517 at the Galen Center there were a lot of fans cheering for the Tigers. The last time Washington sold out Alaska Airlines Arena was for a 75-62 upset of top-ranked and undefeated Stanford on March 6, 2004.

Auburn brings a 9-2 record into the matchup while the Huskies are 9-3, including a 1-1 start in Pac-12 play with a one-point loss at Oregon State and a 10-point win at home vs. Colorado in front of 7,261 fans, the largest crowd of the season for Washington.

Pearl said a key to his team’s success is dealing with Washington’s zone defense and avoiding turnovers when attacking it, something that was a major problem on Sunday at USC.

“I think our turnovers were being really careless, trying to go too fast, throwing the ball all over the parking lot,” Pearl said of his team’s season-high total of 23 turnovers, 11 more than it forced. As a result the Trojans outscored Auburn 23-18 in points off of turnovers.

“I am hoping we are able to rise to the challenge,” Pearl said of playing back-to-back road games far away from home. “How am I supposed to go to Georgia in the second SEC game and expect to win if I can’t come to Washington and have a chance to win.”

The coach added, “We had a chance to win at USC and we turned it over too many times. We have a chance to win here.”

Wednesday’s game will be the first time Auburn has played basketball in the Pacific Northwest.

Washington coach Mike Hopkins said it is exciting for the Huskies to have a ranked non-conference team come to Seattle. “When you're playing Auburn, they are such an aggressive team. A little bit like when you watch Houston. They play exceptionally hard, they have great energy like their head coach.

“They crash the glass, they try and create havoc and steals,” he said. “That's what they do and you have got to be able to...in the first half of our game when we played them three years ago we had nine turnovers in the first half that equalled 20 points, and we were down 20 at halftime so that's obviously what you have to do. You have to be able to handle the ball, you have to be able to handle their pressure. They are very aggressive, I think they are the top shot-blocking team in the country. It'll be a great test, great challenge."

Auburn Basketball Notes: Pearl noted that he really liked what he saw from Johni Broome on Sunday vs. USC, saying he was “very, very proud” of the 6-10, 235 center. Broome led the Tigers in scoring with 16 points while making 7-8 field goals vs. the Trojans. He also led Auburn in rebounds with eight. “I thought he and Dylan (Cardwell) both won their position very substantially,” the coach said. “If that can continue it bodes well for us.”...Auburn leads the nation in blocked shots per game at 7.5 and Washington is second at 6.2.

Johni Broome came to Auburn as a transfer from Morehead State. (Photo: Jason Caldwell/Auburn247, 247Sports) 9COMMENTS

Washington has designated the game a “Purple Out” and is encouraging fans to wear purple clothing. The Huskies will give away rally towels to the first 2,500 fans in the arena...Auburn’s other non-conference road game is scheduled on Jan. 28th at West Virginia as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge...Washington dominated Idaho State 90-55 on Saturday night in a game that featured a season-best 24 assists for the Huskies....Washington has been a strong second half team. It has outscored opponents by 67 points in the period and won five times after trailing at intermission...Washington coach Mike Hopkins has won two Pac-12 Coach of the Year Awards in his five previous seasons leading the program...The Huskies brought in four transfers who have combined to play 278 college games. Included in that group is 6-7 forward Keon Brooks, who made the move from Kentucky for the 2022-23 season. He is averaging 16.8 points and 6.7 rebounds...The Pac-12 Network can be seen on CenturyLink, Charter Spectrum, Comcast Xfinity, Cox, DISH, Frontier, fuboTV and Sling TV.

Tigers Look for Bounce Back Victory

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Auburn's guards and teammates looking for bounce back win vs. Huskies

Mark Murphy

5–6 minutes

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As the Auburn basketball team heads into its final pre-conference game on Wednesday at Washington, the Tigers are in major need of better play from the guard position. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CST and the contest will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.

The Huskies, who are 9-3 overall and 7-1 in home games, rely on strong play from a trio of senior guards.

Auburn, which goes into the matchup with a 9-2 record, has dropped two of its last three games and didn’t have a strong performance in the win vs. Georgia State sandwiched between losses to Memphis and USC.

Two of the Tigers’ top three scorers are guards with junior Wendell Green leading the squad with his average of 12.7 points per contest. Another junior, K.D. Johnson, is the No. 3 scorer at 10.4 per game, which also trails sophomore center Johni Broome’s 11.6 points per contest.

In the last three games Green has made just 6-22 field goals and is 0-8 on three-pointers. The majority of his points have come from the foul line where he has made 21-26 free throws.

Green, who is the team’s assist leader with 40, has eight assists to go with nine turnovers in the past three games. He played a season-low 12 minutes in Sunday’s loss to USC after struggling on both ends of the court while trying to come back from an ankle injury he suffered in the final minute of the previous game, a 72-64 win over Georgia State.

Johnson, the second-leading returning scorer from last season behind Green, is also in a shooting slump. He made just 5-15 field goals in the 82-73 loss to Memphis. Johnson was held out of the Georgia State game and on Sunday vs. the Trojans he was 0-5 from the field, including three tries on three-point shots. Johnson made 9-11 free throws in his last two outsings, but turned the ball over nine times to go with four assists.

Graduate transfer guard Zep Jasper has not been able to pick up the scoring slack. He is 4-12 from the field, 3-10 on threes and has not been to the foul line in the previous three outings. He has just one assist, but has played without a turnover in those games.

Each of the two freshmen in the mix at guard have had very different recent results. Chance Westry is 0-8 from the field, 0-4 on threes, 0-0 at the foul line with three assists and five turnovers in the last three games. He played only a minute on Sunday vs. USC due to ball-handling issues.

After being used sparingly and not playing vs. Memphis, Tre Donaldson has taken advantage of his expanded opportunity by making 6-11 field goals, 3-5 threes, 3-5 free throws with four assists and three turnovers. Seven of his 11 steals have come in the past two games.

Looking at his team’s loss to the Trojans, Coach Bruce Pearl said Green’s struggle was a major factor. “He tried,” Pearl said. “He got about 12 minutes in there and he just wasn’t effective.

“Tre Donaldson really stepped up and did a terrific job, but got in foul trouble and we had to play Zep Jasper some at point,” Pearl said. “He did a fantastic job and then in the second half Chance really struggled against pressure.”

Donaldson said he feels like he is ready for an expanded role, saying he has been “working my butt off” in practice and is eager to show what he can do.

Asked if playing well in Auburn’s first true road game of the season was a confidence booster, he said, “My confidence is always going to stay up. My teammates have helped me build my confidence more and more throughout the season. I am just counting on them and I know they trust me.”

The freshman from Tallahassee, Fla., added, “My confidence is going to stay high no matter what at home or on the road.”

Tre Donaldson has played in nine regular season games this season. (Photo: Jason Caldwell, 247Sports)

The guards and the rest of the Tigers will try to play with confidence vs. Washington, a team that comes into the contest following a 90-55 win over Idaho State on Saturday. In the only previous Tigers vs. Huskies matchup the Tigers won 88-66 at Auburn during the 2018-19 season.

The Huskies are 1-1 in league play. The Tigers and Huskies have no common opponents so far this season. Washington’s losses were 73-64 to California Baptist, 66-65 at Oregon State and 77-60 at Gonzaga.

Keon Brooks, a 6-7 senior forward who transferred to Washington from Kentucky, is the top scorer (16.8 points per game) and top rebounder (6.7). He started for the Wildcats last season vs. Auburn, finishing with six points, four rebounds, two turnovers and one blocked shot in UK’s road loss.

Cole Bajema, a 6-7 senior guard, is the other Washington player scoring in double figures at 10.7 points while averaging 4.8 rebounds.