BY NOAH GRIFFITH FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — Auburn University men’s basketball (11-2) is riding a six-game win streak into conference play with double-digit wins over Chattanooga and Penn to finish out its non-conference slate.
The Tigers have won five of those six games by 20 or more points and each of them by double digits. Auburn finished its 2023 slate, which dates back to last season, with a 20-13 record before starting 2024 with a victory over Penn.
Next up for the Tigers is SEC play, and they are jumping straight into the fire with a game at Arkansas on Saturday before returning to host Texas A&M on Tuesday.
“It’s not the easiest way to start the conference, but we’re playing well right now,” said head coach Bruce Pearl. “Last time we were at Arkansas, they stormed the court. It’ll be everything we want and then some.”
Here’s some highlights from each of Auburn’s wins inside Neville Arena.
Saturday, Dec. 30: Auburn 101 – Chattanooga 66
Auburn closed out 2023 with its second 100-point scoring performance of the season behind another stellar showing from Jaylin Williams against the Mocs (8-5).
With his third 20-point performance in the last five games, Williams’ 21 points led the Tigers’ trio of double-digit scorers. That was his third time leading the team in scoring this season, and he did it behind a 9-for-9 shooting night from the floor — including 2-of-2 on 3-pointers.
After the contest, the graduate senior had tallied 87 points, 21 rebounds, 14 assists, five steals and five turnovers over the previous five games. He rose to second on the team, behind Johni Broome’s 15.1 points per game, with 11.8 points a game in his final year on The Plains.
Because the game was just hours after Auburn football’s bowl game in Nashville, there was no band and no cheerleaders cheering on the Tigers in this one. Nonetheless, Auburn got out to a 12-0 lead to start the game and never looked back. The student section, along with the rest of Neville Arena, still had enough firepower after the football team’s loss earlier in the day.
“The Auburn family, the Jungle always does its job,” Broome said. “It was enough.”
Tuesday, January 2: Auburn 88 – Penn 68
Broome notched his seventh double-double of the season, and Chad Baker-Mazara put up a season-high 16 points to propel the newly-ranked, No. 25 Tigers to a 20-point win over Penn (8-7).
Auburn got out to another scorching start with 10 3-pointers in the first half, and Broome made a season-high three of them in the game. Despite going 2-for-16 from beyond the arch in the second half, Auburn found its rhythm behind a spark from K.D. Johnson and the bench.
Williams cooled down after making his first two threes for just eight points in the game, but Broome dropped 24 and the bench went off for 43 points.
Led by six assists from Aden Holloway, Auburn guards continued to feed the hot hand and hold the advantage in assists (19-11) as it has in every game this season. Johnson, along with 13 points, tallied four assists along with three from Donaldson, while those three guards combined committed just one turnover.
The Tigers stayed hot, getting its second straight fast start heading into its SEC opener at Arkansas (9-4) on Saturday at 1 p.m. CST.