1/10/23 Auburn Articles

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Pearl: Fewer fouls, fewer turnovers a big deal for Tigers

Mark Murphy

4–5 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama–As his basketball team looks to earn its first SEC road victory of the season, Bruce Pearl said the Tigers need to do a better job of not sending opponents to the free throw line. The next opportunity to do that is Tuesday night at Ole Miss.

“One of the things that we have got to do is we have got to stop fouling,” Auburn’s head coach said on Monday as the Tigers prepare for an 8 p.m. CST tipoff on Tuesday against the Rebels (ESPNU television coverage) at Oxford, Miss.

“I know Florida made more free throws than we did,” Pearl pointed out. “I know Georgia made more free throws than we did. They shot twice as many, and I know Arkansas shot twice as many free throws as we did.”

In Auburn’s 61-58 home win vs. Florida to open league play the Gators were 17-19 at the free throw line. Auburn made 16-24 free throws.

In last Wednesday’s 76-74 loss at Georgia the Bulldogs connected on 22-32 free throws while Auburn hit 10-16.

In Saturday night’s matchup of ranked teams at Neville Arena, won 72-59 by the Tigers, Arkansas made 19-32 free throws while the Tigers made 17-22.

“We have got to stop fouling because our defense is pretty good,” said Pearl, whose team is giving up 62.5 points per outing, which ranks third among Southeastern Conference teams behind Tennessee (52.5 points) and Mississippi State (56.7 points).

Auburn is off to a 2-1 start in league play and is 12-3 overall going into its road trip to face Ole Miss, which is 8-7 overall and 0-3 in the SEC after dropping a 64-54 decision at Mississippi State on Saturday.

Pearl said other keys to his team’s success are not having poor shooting nights like the Tigers suffered through in the loss at Georgia along with avoiding turnovers.

Against Arkansas, a team that thrives on turning over opponents, the Tigers built a 36-25 halftime lead after committing just four turnovers and shooting 41.4 percent from the field while making 5-12 threes in the opening 20 minutes at Neville Arena.

In the second half vs. the Razorbacks the Tigers again committed just four turnovers, a team that came into the contest forcing 17.5 turnovers while averaging 10 steals a game. The Razorbacks finished the night with just four steals and were outscored 25-9 in points off of turnovers. Combine that with 46.1 percent shooting from the field after intermission and Auburn outscored the Razorbacks 36-34 in the final 20 minutes of a game it never trailed.

“When players are on the floor and we are turning it over, it is hard to have a positive plus-minus, and that is one of the reasons our starters have done pretty well because they have not turned it over as much as the bench,” said Pearl, who added, “It’s really, really big.”

With the victory over the Razorbacks the Tigers moved up one spot in this week’s AP Top 25 poll to No. 21. The team dropped two spots in the USA Today Coaches ranking to No. 22 after going 1-1 last week.

“I am very proud of my team for the bounce-back, and obviously grateful for our homecourt advantage and, as I said before, probably more than anything, I don’t like disappointing people,” Pearl said of the Tigers winning their 27th consecutive game played at Neville Arena in front of another sellout crowd.

“You have all those people come out and support you, you don’t want to disappoint them, but they made a big difference,” he noted.

Wendell Green is making 80.5 percent of his free throws, which ranks ninth in the SEC. (Photo: Jason Caldwell, 247Sports) 7COMMENTS

“I was really happy for Wendell (Green), who, once again demonstrated he is one of the best guards in the league who probably gets the least attention, but he has always had to prove them wrong.” Green scored 19 points while adding five assists, three rebounds and three steals vs. the Razorbacks.

Tigers Climb in AP Top 25 Poll

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Allen Flanigan's patience, preparation show 'player that he’s capable of being'

Nathan King

5–6 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama — Smiles were hard to come by for Bruce Pearl when Auburn lost at Georgia last week. Until he began talking about Allen Flanigan after the game.

The Tigers’ recent offensive struggles culminated in a road loss against a bottom-tier team in the conference, giving Auburn three losses in its past six games. But Pearl couldn’t help but beam over his senior.

It didn’t appear to be the most electric performance for Flanigan in Athens: 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting, though he was the second-leading scorer behind Johni Broome, and was one of only three Tigers to make three or more shots. But it was what the senior wing had done behind closed doors that made Pearl so proud after the loss.

“Al didn't play great against Florida and really worked hard, all week long, just coming in and grinding and just having a really good attitude and doing the best he could — instead of just being frustrated,” Pearl said. “It's interesting, God's got a way of blessing that good behavior. I just told him, 'Al, even if you didn't play well tonight, you had a great week of preparation.' I could see Al working hard to do the right things, do the little things. It translated pretty quickly. That could be something he can build on.”

And build he did. Flanigan continued to excel, this time against his home-state team: No. 13 Arkansas. Off the bench, the senior poured in 18 points — including a 3-of-6 clip from beyond the arc, eight rebounds, two steals and only one turnover — as No. 22 Auburn rebounded from its recent struggles, cashed in on its strength-in-numbers style of play, and notched what Pearl called one of the most important home wins of his time in the program.

Flanigan has still yet to start a game in 2022-23, though he plays the fourth-most minutes of anyone on the team, ahead of Auburn’s starter at the 3 spot, Chris Moore. But that hasn’t doused his leadership or his efforts on both ends of the floor, even after a rough couple games where he scored just 4 points between wins over Washington and Florida at the end of last month.

“He’s just been trying to do the little things, trying to keep his attitude right,” Pearl said. “Al’s coming off the bench, and certainly is good enough to start, the way he played tonight and he played well against Georgia.”

He started 2-of-3 from 3-point range, and his second triple gave Auburn its first double-digit lead early, 24-14 with under 11 minutes left in the first half.

Flanigan led Auburn in scoring in the second half with 9 points, as the Tigers impressively kept the Razorbacks at bay, holding firm on a double-digit lead for all but 63 seconds of the second half. Flanigan went 2-of-3 from the field, including another triple, and 4-of-4 from the foul line after halftime.

“I thought he was mentally locked in and didn’t over-penetrate,” Pearl said. “Used his physicality defensively and rebounding. … Look at his percentages. Seven defensive rebounds. It sort of translates.”

Flanigan’s 29 points between the Georgia loss and Arkansas win are his most across a two-game span against SEC competition since his sophomore year.

"You're only going to get out of the game what you put into it,” Flanigan said. “It's just me constantly staying in the gym, and tonight it showed."

Pearl even admitted he was a bit surprised by the Tigers’ performance and execution in what was their biggest game of the season so far. But it was proof of concept that Auburn’s depth can be a real weapon when even just half the lineup is playing well offensively — and likely of the most importance is the play of point guard Wendell Green Jr., who bounced back from rough numbers in Auburn’s first two SEC games with 19 points and five assists.

As Auburn looks to brush off its brief string of losses and establish a baseline of SEC wins in the coming weeks, it will continue to rely on Flanigan to be a top scorer, defender and leader.

For now, though, Pearl is just pleased to see the senior’s patience pay off in a public light.

“I’m just happy,” Pearl said. “I’m so happy for him. That’s the player that he’s capable of being.”

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Auburn zones in to limit Arkansas

 

6–7 minutes

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Arkansas guard Ricky Council IV dribbles the ball against Auburn during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl usually prefers his team play man-to-man defense, but the Tigers changed things up against the University of Arkansas Razorbacks.

The No. 22 Tigers primarily played a 2-3 zone in beating No. 13 Arkansas 72-59 on Saturday night in Neville Arena.

"That was a lot -- a lot -- of zone that we played," said Allen Flanigan, Auburn's senior guard from Little Rock Parkview who had 18 points and eight rebounds. "That's probably the first time since I've been here and played zone pretty much the whole game."

The zone proved to be highly effective for Auburn as the Razorbacks shot 33.9% from the field (19 of 56) and 12.5% on three-pointers (2 of 16).

Junior guard Ricky Council hit 2 of 6 three-pointers with the rest of the Razorbacks going 0 of 10.

"Arkansas is better from two than three, and that little flat 2-3 zone bothered them," Pearl said. "They really struggled with it.

"They're going to see that all year long."

The Razorbacks (12-3, 1-2 SEC) already have faced a lot of zone defense in the first three conference games, including their 60-57 loss at LSU and 74-68 victory over Missouri in Walton Arena.

In SEC play, Arkansas is shooting 39.4% from the field (69 of 175) and 19.4% on three-pointers (12 of 62).

On the season, the Razorbacks are shooting 28.7% on three-pointers (71 of 247) to rank No. 334 nationally.

The losses of Trevon Brazile and Nick Smith to knee injuries impact Arkansas in many ways, but notably in three-point shooting.

Brazile hit 11 of 29 three-pointers before suffering a season-ending knee injury against North Carolina-Greensboro. Despite playing only nine of 15 games, he's third on the team behind Council (17 of 57) and freshman Anthony Black (14 of 43) in three-pointers made.

Smith, who has missed 10 games and remains out indefinitely and likely until at least the end of January, according to Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman, is 6 of 20 on three-pointers -- but that was after missing the first six games.

"You're not just going to miraculously wake up and all of a sudden become a great three-point shooting team," Musselman said. "So you've got to figure out other ways to try to put points on the board."

Musselman's teams have been known for getting to the free-throw line to score big, and the Razorbacks had 32 attempts at Auburn -- 10 more than the Tigers.

But Arkansas hit 19 free throws for 59.4%, and that included Black going 13 of 16.

The Razorbacks hit 5 of 10 free throws in their loss at LSU. They started 5 of 11 from the line against Missouri before finishing 14 of 21 with Council 11 of 13.

"The only thing I know is you've got to get in the gym on your own," Musselman said of raising the percentages on free throws and shooting overall. "That's something that's been part of our culture. Guys working relentlessly on their game outside of practice.

"That's got to improve for sure."

Musselman said the Razorbacks also need to do a better job of sharing the ball and moving without it after they had nine assists at Auburn compared to 14 turnovers.

"We're playing against better talent," Musselman said of SEC games. "You're going up against some length and some of the best defensive teams in the country.

"Alabama is coming. Look at their defensive numbers."

The No. 7 Crimson Tide (13-2, 3-0) play at Arkansas at 6 p.m. Wednesday after pounding Kentucky 78-52 at home on Saturday.

Alabama is holding its opponents to 37.8% shooting, including 27.8% on three-pointers.

 

"We've talked to our team about trying to be better cutters," Musselman said. "Instead of just dribbling the ball, you've got to cut."

Musselman rattled off the names of former Razorbacks Au'Diese Toney, Moses Moody, Justin Smith and Jimmy Whitt as being "great cutters" to the basket.

 

"You've got to move without the ball and figure out how to score across the board," Musselman said. "We're not getting as many basket cuts as we have in the past.

"We're doing the same drills. You've got to figure out when your shot is not falling how to get some easy baskets off of reading the defense."

Auburn was ahead 36-25 at halftime and led by as many as 15 points in the second half.

"I mean, just stagnant," Black, who led the Razorbacks with 23 points, said of the offensive struggles. "We really had a bad first half to be honest. I think once we got in that hole, they could just zone us and kind of not play aggressive."

One plus for Arkansas was out-rebounding Auburn 45-23, but with 17 offensive rebounds the Razorbacks got only eight second-chance points. They shot 7 of 22 on layups according to statbroadcast.com.

Johni Broome, the Tigers' 6-10 sophomore transfer from Morehead (Ky.) State, had 10 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. His presence made it tougher for the Razorbacks to finish inside.

"Obviously, he's one of the best shot blockers in the country," Musselman said. "He did a great job protecting the rim for them for sure."

Arkansas wasn't able to get many points in transition because the Tigers had a season-low eight turnovers. They had a 25-6 advantage in points off of turnovers over the Razorbacks.

But Auburn's zone defense was the Razorbacks' biggest problem.

"We just built a wall and played differently than what we've been playing, and that was the way to beat them," Pearl said. "They never were able to effectively attack.

"Whatever we were doing defensively didn't allow them to come back, and we didn't turn the ball over and create easy offense for them.

"I know it's simple, but honestly, that's it."

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Johni Broome opens SEC play with dominant stretch inside for Auburn

Updated: Jan. 09, 2023, 1:36 p.m.|Published: Jan. 09, 2023, 7:05 a.m.

4–5 minutes

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Johni Broome got a little too enthusiastic with his trash-talk in the waning minutes of Auburn’s big-time win against Arkansas on Saturday night.

Broome was called for a technical foul with 2:04 to play and Auburn ahead by 12 after he blocked a shot attempt at the rim by Jordan Walsh and proceeded to let Arkansas’ five-star freshman forward hear about it. In Broome’s defense, he had ample reason to boast during the Tigers’ 72-59 win at Neville Arena.

Read more Auburn basketball: No. 22 Auburn basketball dispatches No. 13 Arkansas for biggest win of season

Goodman: Bruising Auburn flexes on Arkansas, SEC

Rewinding No. 22 Auburn’s 72-59 home win against No. 13 Arkansas

The Auburn big man turned in his third straight double-double — the 39th of his career — and played impeccable defense while anchoring the Tigers’ 2-3 zone, which gave the Razorbacks fits all night. Broome finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks while becoming the first Auburn player to post three consecutive double-doubles since Austin Wiley accomplished that feat against LSU, Alabama and Missouri during the 2019-20 season.

“Johni Broome gets another double-double, so we can continue to play through him,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said.

The Morehead State transfer has been on a tear of late, scoring in double figures in each of Auburn’s last nine games. In fact, he has scored at least 10 points in all but two games since arriving on the Plains, seamlessly transitioning from the OVC to the SEC and proving to be a valuable transfer addition to the Tigers’ revamped frontline.

While Broome may not be Walker Kessler, who was the National Defensive Player of the Year for Auburn last season, he has been remarkably effective in the middle for Auburn on both ends of the court. Broome is averaging 12.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game, all of which lead the team.

“It’s huge just seeing him come in and just dominate night-in and night-out,” senior wing Allen Flanigan said. “It’s definitely huge just knowing we’ve got him down low at the 5-spot.”

Since the start of SEC play, Broome has played particularly well, even as Auburn’s play has been somewhat uneven. In three conference games, Broom has averaged 15.3 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 47.6 percent from the field.

And that’s after what was his most inefficient shooting performance since late-November. Broome shot just 5-of-12 against Arkansas, as he put together a somewhat quiet double-double that took a backseat to Wendell Green Jr.’s bounceback performance and what was Flanigan’s best all-around game since his return from an Achilles injury last season.

Saturday was Broome’s fifth game this season with at least four blocks and his second with six or more. He was a force in the middle for Auburn, which slowed Arkansas with a switch from Pearl’s typical aggressive man-to-man defense to a flat 2-3 zone. The zone defense dared the Razorbacks — who are one of the most talented teams in the nation but also one of the worst outside shooting teams in the country—to knock down jump-shots. Arkansas finished the game just 6-of-28 (21.4 percent) on jumpers, and when its offense managed to get inside, Broome was often there to affect shot attempts.

It led to his six blocks and more altered shots down low, as the Razorbacks shot just 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) on layups.

“He just did his job,” Green said. “Everybody went out there and did they job. I’m proud of all my teammates. We just went out there, we played our roles, and everybody did their job. Everybody has a responsibility in the zone, and we took care of it, and they didn’t score that much. It worked for us good tonight.”

And, as Pearl said, it again showed that Auburn can continue to play through its veteran big man—even against one of the best teams in the country.

“Johni stood tall, and he’s confident, and that gives us confidence,” Pearl said. “We feed off of Wendell Green and Johni Broome’s confidence. So, he played big.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

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Auburn basketball moves up in Week 10 AP poll

Updated: Jan. 09, 2023, 1:36 p.m.|Published: Jan. 09, 2023, 11:07 a.m.

2–3 minutes

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Auburn takes down No. 13 Arkansas | Wendell Green Jr. lights it up vs. Hogs

Auburn maintained its spot in the AP poll for a 29th consecutive week, checking in at No. 21 in the Week 10 rankings released Monday.

The move up one spot from No. 22 for Auburn comes after a week in which it split a pair of games against Georgia and Arkansas. The Tigers fell on the road to the Bulldogs by a dozen on Wednesday but bounced back with a 13-point win at Neville Arena against the Razorbacks, who entered the game ranked No. 13 in the nation but dropped to 15th in this week’s poll.

Read more Auburn basketball: Johni Broome opens SEC play with dominant stretch inside for Auburn

Goodman: Bruising Auburn flexes on Arkansas, SEC

Auburn basketball dispatches Arkansas for biggest win of season

“We talk about making history, and from that standpoint it mattered,” Pearl said. “We wanted to be able to say that in 2022 we were in the top-25 every single week, and we had to get off to a good enough start this year to do that. I was pleased heading into the new year. The one thing that the league will do, it can be unmerciful — like I said, four out of next six are on the road — but it also provides you with opportunity.”

The double-digit win against Arkansas was Auburn’s best of the season, as Bruce Pearl’s team improved to 2-1 in Quadrant 1 games this year (the November neutral-site win against Northwestern is now a Q1 game, as the Wildcats moved up to No. 47 in NET rankings).

Auburn is one of five SEC teams ranked in this week’s AP poll, behind No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 15 Arkansas and No. 20 Missouri.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.

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Auburn falls two places in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll after two-game stretch

River Wells

~3 minutes

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The Auburn Tigers defeated then-No. 13 Arkansas by a good margin on Saturday, but sometimes it’s hard to please everyone.

Despite the 72-59 win over the higher-ranked Razorbacks, Auburn found itself falling yet again in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll — the Tigers dropped two spots from No. 20 to No. 22, and the Arkansas team they beat dropped three places from No. 13 to No. 16. Since Auburn’s loss to the Georgia Bulldogs took place in-between polls, it’s likely that the Tigers’ loss in that game influenced their lower ranking.

Bruce Pearl’s squad may have been a victim of circumstance as well, however. The Duke Blue Devils needed a place to land after barely beating Boston College on the heels of an upset loss to NC State, so they dropped seven spots to No. 21 — Meanwhile, Providence moved up 11 spots from being unranked to No. 19 after a win over No. 7 Connecticut and St. Johns.

As a result, the Tigers didn’t have a lot of room to move on up after the victory, and so they found themselves dropping despite a solid performance against a higher-ranked SEC team — the team’s bad game against Georgia, though, likely held more weight in the decision to put it lower.

Auburn will have another chance to move up in the polls when it takes on Ole Miss on Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT.

Rank	Team	Record	Prev	Chg
1	Houston	16-1	2	1
2	Kansas	14-1	3	1
3	Purdue	15-1	1	-2
4	Alabama	13-2	7	3
5	Tennessee	13-2	9	4
6	UCLA	14-2	8	2
7	Connecticut	15-2	5	-2
8	Gonzaga	14-3	10	2
9	Arizona	14-2	4	-5
10	Texas	13-2	6	-4
11	Xavier	13-3	18	7
12	Virginia	11-3	11	-1
13	Kansas State	14-1	NR	15
14	Iowa State	12-2	25	11
15	Miami-Florida	13-2	12	-3
16	Arkansas	12-3	13	-3
17	Texas Christian	13-2	17	—
18	Wisconsin	11-3	15	-3
19	Providence	14-3	NR	11
20	Missouri	13-2	21	1
21	Duke	12-4	14	-7
22	Auburn	12-3	20	-2
23	Marquette	13-4	NR	11
24	Charleston	16-1	NR	8
25	San Diego St.	12-3	NR	8

DROPPED OUT: No. 16 Baylor; No. 19 Indiana; No. 22 New Mexico; No. 23 Ohio St.; No. 24 Illinois; No. 25 Kentucky.

RECEIVING VOTES: Illinois 50; Baylor 48; Clemson 45; Michigan St. 38; Ohio St. 32; Saint Mary’s 30; Indiana 29; Northwestern 15; Maryland 13; Florida Atlantic 13; Kentucky 11; North Carolina 10; Rutgers 8; New Mexico 7; Louisiana State 6; Pittsburgh 5; Iowa 5; Mississippi State 4; Texas Tech 3; Nevada 2; Texas A&M 1; Boise St. 1.