12/22/22 Articles

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Sizzling in snowy Seattle: Hot shooting Tigers dominate Huskies

Mark Murphy

5–6 minutes

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Auburn’s final chance to build momentum going into the SEC basketball schedule couldn’t have gone much better for the Tigers, who scorched the nets at Alaska Airlines Arena on Wednesday night in an 84-61 victory over the Washington Huskies. Shooting 72.4 percent in the second half, Auburn improved to 10-2 for the season.

Coach Bruce Pearl’s team hit 21-29 of its field goals in the second half and 33-59 for the game to finish at 55.9 percent. The three-point shooting was strong, too, as the Tigers made 8-17 vs. the Huskies, who dropped to 9-4 with the loss.

“That’s going to make for a merrier Christmas, don’t you think,” said Pearl, who noted that it was probably the second best road victory of the season by an SEC team.

Senior forward Jaylin Williams and sophomore center Johni Broome led the Tigers. Each scored 18 points and pulled in eight rebounds. Broome finished with five assists, one block and one steal. Pearl said both players did a good job vs. the Washington 3-2 zone offense with a game plan set up by assistant coach Steven Pearl.

"Against the zone, me and Johni Broome, that is our spot against the zone, especially in the high post," said Williams, who noted that the team did a good job of hitting open shots in the second half. Williams was 6-10 from the field and made 2-3 treys and 4-5 free throws.  When Williams was on the court the Tigers outscored the home team by 24 points.

Chris Moore, who was good on 5-6 field goals, scored 12 points for the Tigers while Wendell Green added 11 points. “It was great to see Chris Moore shooting the ball like he shot it,” Pearl said.

Freshman Tre Donaldson came off the bench to dish out seven assists with just one turnover. His head coach noted that he has been challenging the point guard to step up his game and liked what he saw vs. Washington.

Auburn dominated the boards, finishing with 42 rebounds to 24 for the Huskies. Auburn also dominated the points in the paint 48-28, something Pearl said was part of the game plan because the AU coaches believed they had an advantage inside.

Jaylin Williams during his productive first half at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle. (Photo: Joe Nicholson, 247Sports)

Both teams struggled with their shooting early in the first half. Midway through the period the Tigers were on top 11-7.

With the Tigers leading 13-12 they put together a 14-0 run that included two treys and another field goal by Williams, who scored 14 first half points. He hit 4-7 field goals in the period, including both of his three-pointers, and was 5-6 at the free throw line.

After Auburn built the lead to 27-12 at the 4:16 mark the home team outscored the visitors 11-4 the rest of the half to cut the Tigers’ lead to 31-23 at intermission.

Auburn made 12-30 field goals (40 percent), 3-8 on threes and 4-9 at the free throw line in the half. Washington made 7-33 (21.2 percent) of its first half field goals. The Huskies were 2-13 on threes and 7-8 at the free throw line.

The Tigers out-rebounded the Huskies 27-19 in the first half, but turned the ball over 11 times, four more than the Huskies, who outscored AU 10-2 in points off turnovers in the first half. Auburn enjoyed an 18-8 advantage for points in the paint at intermission.

Like Auburn the Huskies shot better in the second half, starting with five consecutive makes to begin the period. However, they couldn't keep pace with the Tigers who hit nine consecutive field goals later in the half while pulling away for a lead that climbed to as many as 27 points.

For the game the Huskies made 36.8 of their field goals, including 58 percent in the second half. They were 5-20 on threes and 14-18 at the foul line, the only area they out-performed the Tigers, who hit 10-16 free throws.

Keion Brooks, Jr., led Washington with 15 points and five rebounds. The former Kentucky starter made 6-16 field goals and turned the ball over four times. The Tigers, who only had four turnovers in the second half, finished the night with 15. one more than the Huskies.

Pearl said he thought it was an important win for his Tigers. “I told the guys before the game, ‘We’ve got to have this. We want to go to the NCAA Tournament, right? If we do, we’ve got to win games like this.’”

Box Score

Stat of the Game: Auburn finished the game with 22 assists on 33 made baskets. The Huskies finished with seven assists on 21 made baskets.

Worth Noting, Part 1: Pearl said there were about 1,000 Auburn fans, including members of the local AU club, there to cheer on the Tigers, something he and the players appreciated. "That's just Auburn being Auburn," the coach said. Williams agreed and said the players noticed the support from the Auburn fans, most who had seats in the upper deck among the crowd of 8,502, the largest of the season for the Huskies.

12COMMENTS

Worth Noting, Part 2: A dozen Auburn players saw action and each one of them scored at least two points.

Up Next: The Tigers won't play again until their SEC opener at Neville Arena on Dec. 28th vs. the Florida Gators.

">247Sports

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Auburn pulls away for 23-point win at Washington, splits West Coast trip

Updated: Dec. 21, 2022, 10:57 p.m.|Published: Dec. 21, 2022, 10:17 p.m.

8–10 minutes

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Bruce Pearl dropped his head into his hands as he watched from Auburn’s bench early in the first half at Alaska Airlines Arena. The opening stretch of No. 23 Auburn’s game at Washington was tough to watch; both teams were struggling to get any semblance of offense going, and play was generally sloppy.

It didn’t take long for the Tigers to make things more palpable on their way to an 84-61 win against the Huskies on Wednesday night, as they wrapped up their West Coast swing with a split against their two Pac-12 opponents.

“That was an important game for us,” Pearl said. “Adversity reveals character, and obviously losing Sunday to USC was disappointing, and it’s been a long trip. It’s six days -- five, six days now -- so unfortunately we had a long time to have to suck on that USC loss. I thought the guys responded really well.”

Auburn (5-of-18) and Washington (4-of-17) combined to shoot 9-of-35 in the game’s opening 11 minutes, as the Tigers held a narrow 13-12 lead at the 8:55 mark in the first half. Then Pearl’s team reeled off a 14-0 run — a stretch during which Washington missed 10 consecutive shot attempts of its own — to build a 15-point lead late in the first half and create a substantial cushion against the Huskies on their homecourt.

That big run in the first half was enough to withstand a push from Washington on either side of halftime before Auburn really opened things up in the second half and ran away with its first true road win of the season. The Tigers shot 72.4 percent overall in the second half, including a stretch of nine consecutive made baskets as they watched their lead balloon to 27 points late in the second half.

That blistering second-half effort helped Auburn finish with arguably its most complete game of the season. The Tigers shot 55.9 percent from the field (their second-best clip of the season), including 47 percent (8-of-17) from beyond the arc, with a season-high 22 assists on their 33 made baskets. Defensively, Auburn limited Washington to just 37 percent shooting, including 25 percent from deep, and forced 14 turnovers on the night. It’s the seventh time this season Auburn has held an opponent to below 38 percent shooting and the ninth time the Tigers have held a team to 65 points or fewer.

“It could be big,” Pearl said of the win. “Obviously, we’re going to feel a little bit better about ourselves. Washington is not a great team... but they’re good; they’re not great. So, it’s a game we kind of needed to have. Look, I told the guys before the game: ‘We got to have this. We want to go to the NCAA Tournament, right? We got to have games and win games like this.’... It was a really good road win against a Pac-12 club, and it was everybody. Our inside guys did great, our guards did great, we made shots, we defended.

“Our guys should feel good about the progress we made on this trip.”

Here are AL.com’s key takeaways from Wednesday night’s win

Frontcourt gets it done

Auburn’s starting frontcourt set the tone Wednesday night in Seattle, as Jaylin Williams, Chris Moore and Johni Broome combined for 27 of the Tigers’ 31 first-half points against the Huskies.

That included 14 first-half points from Williams, who shot 4-of-7 in the opening stanza with back-to-back made 3-pointers—including one late in the shot clock—along with seven points from Moore and six from Broome. Moore scored Auburn’s first five points of the game as the team weathered a slow start offensively.

That trio finished the game with a combined 48 points, including a game-high 18 apiece from Williams and Broome. Moore finished with 12 points on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting night that included a pair of made 3-pointers. Williams and Broome pulled down eight rebounds each, while Broome added five assists and a block.

“We thought we had the advantage inside,” Pearl said. “We went inside to Johni and Jaylin often. We finished much better in the second half. First half I was disappointed that we weren’t able to take our time and score more productively. It’s not about taking shots or getting shots; it’s about making shots. We had the advantage inside, and I just thought that Jaylin Williams was the best player on the floor.... Jaylin’s inside-out ability really shined.”

Williams finished 6-of-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 from deep and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line. Broome shot 6-of-7 from the field in the second half after going 3-of-10 in the first half.

“I feel like in the first half, I was being a little wild, I’d say,” Broome said. “I was trying to get too close to the basket instead of just trusting myself. Second half... I just had the confidence in myself that it was going in.”

The big night from Auburn’s frontcourt resulted in a 48-28 advantage in paint points, as well as a plus-18 margin on the boards for the Tigers.

“We had the advantage on the inside; we just did,” Pearl said. “Johni took advantage of it. Dylan (Cardwell) made some big plays rebounding the ball. We were physical in there. Jaylin obviously scored at a great percentage, so we took advantage of it.... The rebounding advantage was significant. We were bigger, and we were more athletic, and we used it.”

Mistake-filled close keeps it closer at the half

Auburn built a 15-point lead heading into the under-4 timeout in the first half, yet the Tigers went into halftime with their lead essentially cut in half, as Washington closed the period on a 9-2 run thanks to a handful of mistakes by the Tigers.

Auburn committed four turnovers in the final 3:50 of the half, as Washington scored nine unanswered to cut the lead to six with 22 seconds to play until halftime. That run included three made free throws after freshman Tre Donaldson fouled a 3-point shooter, a 3-pointer that was banked in as the shot clock wound down, and an and-one after Allen Flanigan fouled Washington’s Koren Johnson on a drive to the basket. It wasn’t until Jaylin Williams was fouled on a 3-point attempt in the closing seconds, making two of the three free throws, that Auburn could stop the bleeding and take its eight-point lead into the locker room.

For as dominant as Auburn looked for a good stretch of the first half to build that 15-point lead, the Tigers let the Huskies hang around thanks to some sloppy play, including those four turnovers late in the half. Auburn committed 11 total turnovers in the first half, which led to 10 Washington points. Conversely, the Tigers managed just two points off seven Huskies turnovers in the opening stanza. That helped close the gap some during a half in which Auburn shot considerably better than Washington — 40 percent (12-of-30) overall compared to 21 percent (7-of-33) overall, and 38 percent (3-of-8) beyond the arc versus 15 percent (2-of-13) for the Huskies.

Backcourt provides separation after halftime

Auburn’s guards stepped up in the second half after a quiet showing in the opening period. Wendell Green Jr., K.D. Johnson and Zep Jasper scored 11 of Auburn’s first 15 points in the first 5 ½ minutes of the second half — and provided assists on the Tigers’ other two baskets during that stretch, as their lead ballooned back to 13 after Washington cut it to six early in the second half.

During that opening stanza after halftime, Green scored six points—a deep 3-pointer and a trio of free throws—while Johnson and Jasper each knocked down a triple of their own. Green also had an alley-oop to Broome, while Johnson had an assist for a Dylan Cardwell dunk that capped a quick 7-0 spurt that forced a Washington timeout with 14:26 to go in the game. At that point, Auburn’s lead sat at 46-33.

“We let one slip at USC,” Broome said. “We were kind of disappointed by that... so we just felt like we needed to get this one. It was very important.... Second half, as you can see, we came out and dominated the game, made our shots inside-out, and we were able to come away with the victory.”

Green finished with 11 points, four assists and three rebounds, though he also was responsible for five of Auburn’s 15 turnovers as he continued to play through an ankle injury he sustained against Georgia State last week. Johnson had just five points and a pair of steals, while Jasper’s 3-pointer was his lone basket. Freshman Tre Donaldson led the team with seven assists off the bench.

“(Donaldson) just knows how to play,” Pearl said. “I’m on Tre as hard as anybody to try to get him to play with that toughness and intensity.”

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

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Tigers of the Game: Broome, Williams earn honors after dominant performance at Washington

 

Taylor Jones

Thu, December 22, 2022 at 7:00 AM CST

 

 

Following a tough loss to USC on Sunday, the No. 24 Auburn Tigers traveled to Seattle in hopes to get back in the win column and to carry momentum into the SEC opener next Wednesday.

The Tigers did just that by shooting 56% from the field and winning the rebound battle 42-24. Auburn departed from the Pacific Northwest with a dominating 84-61 win over Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Four Tigers reached double-figures in the win, with Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams leading the way with 18 points each, followed by Chris Moore and Wendell Green Jr., who scored 12 and 11 points respectively.

Not only did Broome and Williams lead the team in scoring, but the duo dominated the boards as well. Both pulled down eight rebounds in the game, with 14 of those combined rebounds coming on the defensive side of the ball.

 

Were their performances enough to earn a vote for the “Tiger of the Game”  award?

Here is a look at who writers Taylor Jones, J.D. McCarthy, and River Wells voted for as their “Tigers of the Game” following Auburn’s win over Washington.

Taylor Jones: Johni Broome

Michael Chang/Getty Images

Broome matched a season-high in points by scoring 18 in Auburn’s win over Washington. He was also a threat on defense as well by pulling down eight defensive rebounds.

J.D. McCarthy: Jaylin Williams

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Williams has become one of Auburn’s most consistent players, and he showed it again on Wednesday night. Williams scored 18 points and secured eight rebounds, which tied for the team lead alongside Johni Broome.

River Wells: Jaylin Williams

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Williams set the tone of the game early for Auburn, as he scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half. Wednesday’s game was the fifth time this season that Williams has reached double-figures in points. His 18 points were the most scored by Williams since he dropped 20 against Georgia State on Dec. 14.

Leaderboard

John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Here is a look at how many Tigers have earned a “Tiger of the Game” vote this season:

Johni Broome	12
Jaylin Williams	8
Wendell Green Jr.	6
Allen Flanigan	2
K.D. Johnson	2
Chris Moore	2
Tre Donaldson	1