Bruce post GA Presser

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al.com

3 takeaways from No. 14 Auburn’s 97-76 rebound win against Georgia

Updated: Feb. 24, 2024, 7:24 p.m.|Published: Feb. 24, 2024, 7:15 p.m.

5–6 minutes

It’s hard to imagine any team needing a week off at this point more than No. 14 Auburn did, and as it returned to the floor Saturday for the first time in seven days to play Georgia. And while Auburn’s numbers were depleted due to Jaylin Williams’ injury, the refreshed Tigers picked up a much-needed 97-76 win over Georgia.

Auburn is now 21-6 overall and 10-4 in the SEC. SEC leader Alabama lost to Kentucky earlier Saturday. Auburn now is one game back of the SEC’s top spot.

After Williams injured his knee last weekend against Kentucky, Auburn confirmed it would not be season-ending, though it would keep him out for at least a few weeks.

Head coach Bruce Pearl said Williams would travel with Auburn and was seen without crutches and able to put weight on both legs. But he wasn’t going to play. So, it meant Auburn was going to see some new looks.

Here are three takeaways.

Welcome to Auburn’s science experiment

Without Jaylin Williams, there was at least one guaranteed change to Auburn’s starting lineup.

Bruce Pearl made three. Aden Holloway, Chaney Johnson and Chad Baker-Mazara were all among the first five onto the floor for Auburn.

Johnson made sense as the immediate replacement for Williams. But it had been seven games since Holloway was taken out of the lineup for Tre Donaldson and Chad Baker-Mazara hasn’t started at all this season.

The idea was to start faster on the road, Pearl said on the pregame radio show. Auburn did exactly that. Baker-Mazara scored eight points before the under-16 timeout.

Auburn never trailed.

There were several new Auburn lineup combinations, some due to foul troubles and others due to the situation of Williams’ injury. Most notable were the combinations of Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell on the floor together. Pearl has hardly ever used his two centers at the same time, but the absence of Williams made that essentially a necessity.

At the end of the first half, with three fouls on both Dylan Cardwell and Johni Broome at that point, Auburn did not have a true big man in the game with Chris Moore and Baker-Mazara as the only forwards on the floor.

Chad Baker-Mazara, Chaney Johnson and Aden Holloway step up

Chaney Johnson’s addition to the lineup was out of necessity. Chad Baker-Mazara’s was out of strategy.

They both paid off.

Baker-Mazara started right from the first possession, taking the opening tipoff for an immediate breakaway layup. He played easily his best game of the season, scoring a career-high 25 points.

Johnson had 16 points, in what was an obvious confidence-building game.

After not making a 3-pointer in the last three games, Holloway tied a career-high with five makes from deep. No one needed a game to break out of a slump quite like Holloway did, and he did so with a career day.

The three combined for 18-31 shooting. All three made at least one 3-pointer.

There are several stats for Holloway: his most 3s since Dec. 7, his most points since Dec. 17. But those stats are far less notable than just seeing Holloway get his confidence back.

With his shooting — arguably the best shooter on this team — Auburn’s offense goes to another level.

Auburn got in foul trouble again, but responded

There were rampant complaints on social media about the officiating crew led by Pat Adams, but let’s start with what was caused.

Auburn committed 24 fouls. KD Johnson fouled out. Dylan Cardwell, Johni Broome, Chaney Johnson, Denver Jones and Chad Baker-Mazara all had three fouls.

That caused Pearl to have further difficulty handling his rotation. It made for lineups like the one mentioned above at the end of the first half without a true big man on the floor.

Auburn has had issues with fouls before. Auburn entered the day 289th nationally and fourth worst in the SEC in terms of fouls committed per game with 18.4.

There haven’t been truly many occasions where fouls have bit Auburn despite the high numbers. Foul trouble was problematic among Auburn’s guards against Kentucky, but not the reason why Auburn lost that game.

Auburn’s foul trouble put it in a position to allow a Georgia comeback. It caused Auburn to defend lightly and allow Georgia to cut the lead down to three points.

The Tigers responded with an 11-0 run, keeping its fouls in check and getting two incredibly clutch 3-pointers from Aden Holloway in the final 10 minutes of the game.

The result is Auburn finished with a 21-point win, outscoring Georgia 35-19 after the lead shrunk to three.

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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