post game Southwestern Lousiana

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si.com

 

Takeaways: Auburn Basketball Defeats SE Louisiana, 86-71

Lance Dawe

~3 minutes

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Auburn basketball picked up a decisive win over SE Louisiana on Friday night despite poor shooting early.

Auburn basketball picked up a decisive win over SE Louisiana on Friday night despite poor shooting early.

The Tigers (1-1) defeated the Lions 86-71 while only shooting 41% from the floor and 34% from deep. Four players finished in double-figures in what was an odd game from Bruce Pearl's squad.

Here are five takeaways from the game.

Auburn seems content with Tre Donaldson at point

Holloway and Donaldson spent nearly even playing time at point guard, something fans probably didn't expect at the beginning of the season. Donaldson finished with three points (1-of-4 shooting), three rebounds, four assists, and only one turnover. Holloway had 11 points (4-of-10 shooting), no rebounds and two assists.

Holloway had a plus/minus of +11, Donaldson with a negative of -2.

It will be interesting to see if this half and half rotation stays the same through non-conference play.

Chaney Johnson kept fighting despite poor shooting

A 2-of-11 shooting night did not bother Chaney Johnson, who finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.

The Division II transfer struggled to find his shot throughout the game, but it will come with time. Everyone has off nights. Johnson's frame and insane wingspan allows him to contribute in so many different ways, Auburn doesn't need him to be a scorer.

Watch his development as the season progresses.

Depth is once again a flex

Nine players had 18 minutes or more for the Tigers, not including starting SF Chris Moore who had 12 minutes.

44 bench points in a double-digit win. That's solid.

Broome impresses

Broome finished with 18 points and nine rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting while making his only three-point attempt. If Auburn can get him to play that well through the rest of non-conference play, they'll do pretty well for themselves.

Another efficient shooting night for the opposition

Auburn has started the season with two poor defensive performances outside the arc. SE Louisiana finished the game shooting 45% from deep. The Tigers have to clean that up.

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247sports.com

5 takeaways from Auburns win over Southeastern Louisiana

Nathan King

6–8 minutes

Auburn got itself a nice breather at home before heading back across the country again next week.

Less than 72 hours after dropping their season opener to Baylor in South Dakota, the Tigers seemed to have some jet lag in a grinding win over Southeastern Louisiana on Friday night, 86-71. Auburn will only play at home twice over its next seven games, as it heads to Brooklyn next week for two games in the Legends Classic.

Here are Auburn Undercover’s five takeaways from the night, as the Tigers have now won all 10 of their home openers under Bruce Pearl.

Sleepy night on the Plains

Perhaps it should have been the expectation that the Tigers would be sluggish after an emotional loss to Baylor in a marquee season opener more than 1,000 miles away.

A rough offensive start for Auburn set the tone for the night. The Tigers missed 13 of their first 15 shots, and also missed nine of their 10 shots from beyond the arc.

Auburn’s defense was the constant, though, holding the Lions without a made basket for 8:56 of game time in the first half. That allowed K.D. Johnson and Aden Holloway to lead some scoring bursts for Auburn and grab a double-digit lead. 

But the Tigers were quick to fall back into those offensive pitfalls. After Auburn led by as many as 17, Southeastern Louisiana went on an 8-0 run midway through the second half, quickly trimming a 15-point Auburn lead — just as it seemed the Tigers were about to pull away — and pulling the deficit down to 61-54 with 7:17 left. Auburn went 2-of-10 from the floor during the stretch, including two misses and two turnovers by Johni Broome. 

Southeastern Louisiana had a chance to make it a six-point game but missed a free throw, then the Tigers got 8 points in a hurry, including back-to-back triples by Johnson and Holloway.

Auburn made eight of its last 12 shots for the game to pull away. For the second straight game to open the season, the Tigers were strong on the boards, and that helped them keep the Lions at a distance for most of the night. Auburn dominated with a 46-33 overall advantage on the glass and had 15 offensive boards. Broome had 18 points and 11 rebounds.

"I’m still not happy," Pearl said. "You know, we give up 43 points in the second half. 54 against Baylor. That’s 97 points in the second half of basketball. It’s just not really good enough. We only turned them over one time in the second half."

Effort level unacceptable for Pearl

Pearl wasn't interested in any making any excuses for the Tigers' sluggish performance. He said he shouldn't have to be coaching his team to be more energetic after a long preseason.

"I’m still having to coach effort and energy, and that’s a problem," Pearl said. "I think the thing that’s got to translate is, ‘How much do you hate losing?’"

Auburn has four newcomers in the rotation that are obviously still gelling with their new teammates in the second game of the season. But Pearl said there should be much more leadership from his veterans in a game like this.

"I can't understand it at all," Pearl said. "It's got to come from within and it's got to come from our returning players."

Signature spark from K.D.

A sleepy Auburn team needed a pick-me-up early, and who better to provide than the Tigers’ signature spark plug?

Johnson got into double figures for the first time this season, scoring 10 of his 13 points in just 10 minutes in the first half. As soon as he checked in for the first time, he scored 6 points across back-to-back possessions on an and-one, then a steal and a 3-pointer.

Johnson had a trio of pretty assists in the second half, too, both in transition with a lob to Johni Broome for a crowd-pleasing dunk, a bounce pass to Dylan Cardwell for an easy deuce, and another alley oop to Cardwell.

And when Auburn needed another boost late in the game, with Southeastern Louisiana back within single digits, Johnson hit a step-back triple to push things back to a 13-point lead. 

"I thought K.D. was terrific," Pearl said. "I thought KD played one of his better games. I thought he was really locked in, got downhill, shot the 3-ball. He still breaks us down by taking some possessions off defensively, but there were less of those tonight."

He and Holloway (11 points) combined to make 5-of-13 triples. Auburn missed nine of its first 10 shots from beyond the arc but made 10-of-22 to finish the night. 

Auburn struggles to contain the backcourt

The Tigers won comfortably, sure, but Pearl will have plenty to work on defensively in practice this week. 

Pearl said often this preseason that backcourt defense was going to be one of the biggest challenges for this year’s Auburn team, and the Tigers struggled to contain Southeastern Louisiana’s two best players. Starting guards Roger McFarlane and Roscoe Eastmond combined for 39 points, including a game-high 24 points for McFarlane, who hit 4-of-7 shots from beyond the arc.

No other Southeastern Louisiana players attempted more than six shots, and McFarlane and Eastmond combine for 60.3 percent of all the visitors’ field-goal attempts for the night. 

"Southeast Louisiana is picked to either finish first or second in their league," Pearl said. "... You know, trust when I tell you those guys came in here thinking they were going to win the game. They’ve got seniors. That’s a good team. That team’s going to have a good year. But I’m still not pleased. But I want to give them a lot of credit, and I want to give their coaching staff a lot of credit. They were prepared. They played well. They competed. They had a good scheme. So, very, very impressed. You know, obviously, McFarlane is a terrific player."

Milestones for Williams, Pearl

The first win of the season was going to carry some meaning for Auburn’s most experienced player and its head coach.

Jaylin Williams, a fifth-year senior, has now become the winningest player in program history with 88 victories. He breaks a tie with Anfernee McLemore, Scott Pohlman and Allen Flanigan. 

"It feels amazing to represent the last name on the back of my jersey and my family," Williams said postgame. "If it wasn’t for these guys ... it wouldn’t have happened. So I shout out my team and my coaching staff, and believing in us as a team."

Pearl also passed Sonny Smith for No. 3 on Auburn’s all-time wins list, with 174 victories. He’s now behind only Joel Eaves (213 wins) and Cliff Ellis (186).

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al.com

3 takeaways from Auburn basketball’s 86-71 win against Southeastern Louisiana

Updated: Nov. 10, 2023, 9:40 p.m.|Published: Nov. 10, 2023, 9:05 p.m.

7–8 minutes

Let’s start with maybe the biggest headline from the night’s result: Auburn forward Jaylin Williams is now Auburn’s winningest player ever.

With Auburn beating Southeastern Louisiana 86-71, Williams took sole possession of a record he already held. Williams and his former teammate Allen Flanigan were tied for the all-time lead for Auburn with 87 wins. Since Flanigan transferred to Ole Miss, that meant WIlliams could take the lead by himself with just one win.

Bruce Pearl is also now Auburn’s third-winningest in school history.

The margin of the final score doesn’t quite tell the full story for Auburn, especially with regard to a slow start on offense. But Auburn knows how to get through slow starts, albeit playing a highly inconsistent game.

Speaking of which, that’s one of three takeaways from the win.

Auburn knows where to find energy

Auburn simply can’t shoot it as well as it did against Baylor. That’s just unsustainable. But Auburn also probably wants to shoot the ball better than it did to start against Southeastern.

Auburn made three of its first 16 shots Friday night and seven of its first 26. It was a slow start especially when it wasn’t a situation where Auburn wasn’t getting open looks. It just missed some shots it shouldn’t miss. That included starting 3-9 on layups.

So, when the Tigers needed some juice? Look no further than KD Johnson and Chad Baker-Mazara.

Johnson came in off the bench at the 16:49 mark in the first half and got a steal, an and-1, and a 3-pointer all within his first four minutes on the floor. That gave Auburn a huge boost and was the ignition of Auburn pulling away from Southeastern in the first half.

Johnson is one of Auburn’s most vocal players. After his steal and his and-1, plays that seem small in the overall look at a box score, Johnson flexed, screamed and stared down his opponents. The energy he gave Auburn in those moments were far more valuable.

Baker-Mazara may not be quite as outwardly intense as Johnson, but he is also one running all over the floor and being quite vocal when he makes an impact. He had a steal in the first half, got to the free-throw line, helped on the boards and made a 3-pointer.

Sometimes playing with the type of bowling ball, reckless style the two have can do more harm than good. Instead, they were statistically Auburn’s two most efficient players in the first half. They combined to score 18 of Auburn’s 39 first-half points.

And it was Johnson again in the second half hitting a 3-pointer when Southeastern closed the lead down to seven and then feeding Dylan Cardwell for a dunk. The energy was once again back at Neville Arena. Auburn built a cushion back and held on to win.

It’s impressive enough that for how poorly Auburn started, it still scored more than 80 points.

Auburn’s defense is opportunistic, and sporadic

Friday showed exactly the best and worst of a defensive work in progress. And it was much of the same storyline that showed against Baylor.

Auburn plays opportunistic defense. It takes risks to get steals and turnovers. It’s been pretty effective in doing so. Auburn had five steals in the first half.

The key stretch defensively of the game was Auburn not allowed a field goal for a bit over eight minutes. That is excellent defense. There were a combination of tight, contested shots forced by Auburn’s defense as well as some open makes.

Auburn also was in full control of the boards throughout the game. That was expected given Auburn’s length and athleticism. It had 13 more rebounds than Southeastern and 15 offensive rebounds.

Those two traits describe why Auburn wants to play so aggressively on defense and create situations where it can get out in transition.

There are also pitfalls of this. After the streak of not allowing a make, Auburn then allowed Southeastern to make half of its next 14 shots.

Auburn forced five steals in the first half, but only one in the second.

The inconsistent nature of Auburn’s defense allowed Southeastern to briefly get back into the game. Southeastern shot 43% in the second half and was at 50% late in the half. It forced Auburn to have to find one last spurt of energy. It did so, but Auburn’s defense didn’t make for the stress-free second half Auburn thought it might have when it led by 17.

It’s also similar to the Baylor game in that defense started well, but faded as the game went on. Auburn’s defense collapsed over the final 10 minutes against Baylor to blow a game Auburn probably should have won. Auburn didn’t blow this game, but it didn’t make it easy on themselves.

Let’s talk about shooting, and floor spacing

Auburn’s 3-point shooting was once again very streaky. Auburn opened the game shooting 1-10 from beyond the arc but then made six of its next nine.

Dylan Cardwell was the only one of Auburn’s 10-man rotation who did not attempt a 3-pointer. The usual suspects made their 3s in Aden Holloway and Tre Donaldson.

But what may be a more significant development is Johni Broome’s improvement. He’s made three of his first four shots from deep this season. It was an area Auburn’s center has spent a significant amount of time working to improve both to help his stock looking toward the NBA Draft as well as help an Auburn team that has shot the ball very poorly since 2019.

Broome isn’t going to attempt many threes, but the fact that he’s proving he can make them changes how defensive will approach him. He is not a one-dimensional big man. Jaylin Williams, who Auburn has used all over the floor between out on the wings and in the low-post, made multiple 3-pointers, too.

Mostly, that means Auburn can space the floor better. And that would mean more space for Auburn’s more reliable shooters to get more open shots.

When it needed shooting, Auburn got shooting. Southeastern closed the Auburn lead to seven, but Johnson and Holloway each made back-to-back 3s to get a cushion again. Auburn played a shooting-heavy lineup down the stretch with Holloway, Johnson and Denver Jones. It worked.

Auburn finished the night shooting 11-32 on 3-pointers and seven different players made a 3. That’s spacing the floor. The shooting got much better as the game went on. That’s about all Pearl can ask.

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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auburnwire.usatoday.com

Recap: Auburn takes down Southeastern Louisiana 86-71

Brian Hauch

2–3 minutes

The Auburn basketball team is in the win column for the first time this season. The Tigers took down the Southeastern Louisiana Lions on Friday in Neville Arena by a final score of 86-71.

Final scores can often be misleading, and this one fits the bill. Much of Auburn’s first win was sloppy, as Bruce Pearl’s squad struggled to pull away from a team picked to finish atop a historically bad Southland Conference.

The Tigers turned the ball over two more times and shot only 1% better than the Lions in this one, showing they still have plenty of work to do.

Auburn will surely take the win, however.

Junior center Johni Broome led the way for the “Orange and Blue”, securing his second double-double of the season in a 16-point, 11-rebound effort.

Senior guard K.D Johnson was the second leading scorer for the Tigers, pouring in 13 points in 19 minutes off the bench.

Newcomers Aden Holloway and Chad Baker-Mazara were the only other Auburn players in double figures, scoring 11 and 12, respectively.

SE Louisiana junior guard Roger McFarlane led the game in scoring, making 9/23 shots from the field for 24 points. The 6 foot 5 guard also secured 11 rebounds.

McFarlane’s backcourt mate Roscoe Eastmond scored 15 points of his own in 35 minutes on the court.

This marks the second game in a row Auburn has struggled to guard the opponents perimeter players, showing the loss of Zep Jasper may be a bigger deal than originally thought.

Bruce Pearl and Co. will hope to sure up the defense and the offensive inefficiency when they take on Notre Dame in the Legends Classic on November 16.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on  X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Brian on Twitter @TheRealBHauch