3 takeaways from exhibition against AUM

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3 takeaways from Auburn basketball’s preseason exhibition against AUM

Updated: Nov. 01, 2023, 10:18 p.m.|Published: Nov. 01, 2023, 9:08 p.m.

6–7 minutes

Basketball is, somewhat, back in Auburn.

Auburn beat Auburn-Montgomery 102-66 in a preseason exhibition Wednesday at Neville Arena.

It was a game where Auburn dealt with two key injuries: 5-star freshman Aden Holloway hurt his ankle in the days leading up to the game and center Johni Broome injured his shoulder during the game. Broome went to the locker room and came back to the bench but did not return to the game. He was ruled out, according to a team spokesperson, in the first half.

So Auburn’s exhibition showed depth tested a bit more than imagined — though depth is exactly what head coach Bruce Pearl believes Auburn has a surplus of. It meant working through some kinks and some experimenting.

Here are three takeaways from Auburn’s win.

The score didn’t tell the full story, mostly of Auburn’s 3-point shooting

Auburn won by a lot. Yet it did so with some shooting statistics that don’t really seem to line up a margin of this size.

Auburn went on a 23-2 run in the first half despite shooting 3-16 on 3-pointers in the first half. That doesn’t make sense. Well, it kind of does, it’s because a significant amount of Auburn’s points game within a few feet from the basket or in the paint against an AUM team that Auburn is much bigger and stronger than.

This win and this margin were a result of Auburn’s significant talent advantage, because it shot the ball quite badly on 3s and turned the ball over nine times in the first half before cleaning things up in the second half. Auburn out-muscled AUM with 50 points in the paint.

One of Auburn’s biggest talking points this fall has been to improve its 3-point shooting. It’s been Auburn’s biggest weakness since it went to the Final Four in 2019.

FIU transfer Denver Jones, who Auburn brought here to make 3s, shot 4-8 in the win.

The rest of the team shot 1-17.

That isn’t anything to do with the opponent, Auburn just shot the ball poorly. A night this bad from long range isn’t going to be an every night occurrence, at least Auburn hopes it isn’t. But it can take a silver lining from Jones’ shooting. He’s been one of Auburn’s better shooters in scrimmages. He’s going to have to be this season.

He can’t do it alone.

This type of shooting performance can cut it against AUM purely because of how much better Auburn’s roster is. It might not cut it against the better opponents like Baylor coming up.

Auburn’s defense is going to be inconsistent

It took Auburn a little while to pull away from an AUM team that it is much better than. There doesn’t need to be a lot of stock put into that because it is a scrimmage and Auburn wasn’t fully healthy.

That said, Auburn was down 16-15 in the first half and allowed AUM to shoot nearly 60% from the field over the first 10 minutes. It got better from there, of course, but the defensive issues Pearl has discussed throughout the fall showed in Auburn’s first public showing against another team.

Pearl has frequently commented on Auburn’s potential as a great offense but noted where Auburn has succeeded in practice scoring means it has struggled to defend. That isn’t always evident until facing an opponent.

But Auburn stepped things up, big time.

Auburn pulled away with a 12-0 run in the first half and in that time, forced five turnovers in four minutes. That is certainly not sustainable but much more of what Pearl wants to see. In this stretch, Auburn was very active defensively and played like Chad Baker-Mazara and K.D. Johnson stuck out.

The run extended into a 20-point lead as Auburn pulled away for good.

Certainly an inconsistent defense, but there’s potential.

It’s just going to take some time.

Injury report

First things first. There is zero need to panic at this moment, but it is worth a note.

Auburn had two key injuries in the win. Neither appears particularly serious.

Holloway injured his ankle in the team’s scrimmage Sunday against Furman. Has been seen wearing a boot early in the week but did not wear one during the pregame warm-ups. He didn’t partake in warm-ups and wore a T-shirt and sweatpants while his teammates wore their uniforms.

The severity of his injury is unclear, but he is moving on the ankle and able to put weight on it.

Broome hurt his shoulder within the first four minutes of the game. It appeared he was bumped while Auburn was on the offensive end and then went down hard to the ground. It’s not exactly clear where he injured his right shoulder in that process, but he did walk off on his own power and went straight to the locker room.

He came back with his shoulder wrapped in an ice pack and did not return to the game. Largely as a precaution. He actually no longer had the ice pack on by the second half.

Dylan Cardwell also went down with a hard fall in the second half and had his left leg looked at by trainers. He also went to the locker room on his own power. He returned to the bench quickly, but did not come back into the game.

Likely, also a precaution, but it did mean Auburn played the final eight minutes without a true big man.

Broome is Auburn’s best player and Holloway will be a key contributor. They are potentially two starters. Auburn needs them both. There will be updates on their status before the season opener against Baylor next week.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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