BY NOAH GRIFFITH FOR THE OBSERVER
PHOTO BY GRAYSON BELANGER | AUBURN TIGERS
Auburn –– No. 13 Auburn University men’s basketball (22-7, 11-5) welcomed in the madness of March by splitting a pair of Quadrant One opportunities against Tennessee and Mississippi State.
To close out February, Auburn fell short in Knoxville against SEC-leading, No. 4 Tennessee before beginning the new month by defeating Mississippi State at home. The Tigers fell two spots in this week’s AP Poll and remain tied with Kentucky for fourth place in the SEC, while falling out of contention for an SEC regular-season title.
Auburn, a projected 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament, will close out the regular season this week with games against two bottom five teams in the SEC. It will go to Missouri (8-21, 0-16) on Wednesday before returning home for its final home game in a rematch with Georgia (15-14, 5-11).
“It’s March and it’s time to make shots, not take shots,” said head coach Bruce Pearl. “The guys have been putting in the work, and that’s what it takes to win … I hope we get a great crowd in here for our last game, Senior Night against Georgia.”
Following are some highlights from Auburn’s pair of games this past week.
Wednesday, Feb. 27:
Auburn 84 – Tennessee 92
Auburn went to battle with a top five team on the road, but it couldn’t overcome 39 points from Dalton Knecht as it fell to No. 4 Tennessee.
In a game with 12 lead changes, the Tigers went on a run and found themselves up by eight with 12:17 left to go in the game. Knecht went off at that point, scoring 23 points in just over nine minutes to help him match his career-high in scoring.
Coming into the game as the SEC’s second top scorer, 0.4 points behind Alabama’s Mark Sears at 20.1 points per game, Knecht scored 11 consecutive points right after Auburn notched its biggest lead of the game to seize momentum. After Zakai Zeigler drained a three to make it a 44-40 Volunteer lead at halftime, Knecht scored 29 points in the second half to put Auburn’s comeback bid to rest.
In his return from injury, Jaylin Williams played 21 minutes and scored 12 points off the bench. Auburn went with the same starting five as it did against Georgia with Chaney Johnson and Chad Baker-Mazara, but the duo combined for 18 points after scoring 41 in Athens.
Despite the loss, Auburn shot 45.8% as a team and scored the most points against Tennessee in Knoxville this season. Only North Carolina and Kentucky have scored more against the Volunteers, who entered the game allowing 66.6 points a game this season.
Falling just short of a double-double, Johni Broome recorded his sixth 20-point game this season with 23 points and nine rebounds, including a pair of 3-pointers. He led a team of five double-digit scorers, consisting of Baker-Mazara’s fourth consecutive game in double figures with 13.
Auburn shot well and showed a lot of offensive life, but eight threes between Knecht and Zeigler was too much for the Tigers.
Tennessee improved to 21-6 and 14-1 at home this season, and it put itself two games ahead of Auburn in the SEC race. Auburn falls to 4-4 in SEC road games this season with just one such contest remaining at Missouri.
Saturday, March 2:
Auburn 78 – Mississippi State 63
The Tigers clawed back at the Bulldogs in Neville Arena, avenging their January loss to Mississippi State in Starkville.
In the first matchup between the two, Auburn shot 33.9% as a team and lost the turnover battle while getting dominated on the glass. The Tigers reversed the narrative this time around, shooting 50% with nine 3-point makes and winning the turnover battle, 13-10.
Despite getting outrebounded again, 36-30, Auburn played stingy defense and kept them from turning the advantage on the boards into points. The Tigers recorded nine blocks and eight steals, while forcing 13 total turnovers and holding Mississippi State to 39.3% shooting.
In fact, Mississippi State had 21 rebounds but only 22 points at halftime, as Auburn built a commanding early lead.
Auburn went up 39-22 at halftime, and it led all the way through. It took fewer than eight minutes for Auburn to take a double-digit lead, and it stayed ahead by as much as 19 as it kept its lead to at least 10 all the way through 13:28 in the second half.
The Bulldogs showed their toughest bark coming out of halftime, when an 18-9 run drew the deficit to eight points. SEC Freshman of the Year candidate Josh Hubbard hit a pair of threes out of the break, and Mississippi State capitalized on a pair of missed threes by Auburn to go on a 6-0 run, making Auburn’s lead the narrowest it had been since Denver Jones’ three made it an 11-point game midway through the first half.
After another of Hubbard’s six threes shrunk the lead to seven, Auburn responded with an 8-0 run behind 3-balls from Jones and Lior Berman.
Berman gave the Tigers his last offensive spark before the senior suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the second half. Despite the heartbreaking loss, Jaylin Williams returned to the starting lineup for the first time in two weeks and helped the Tigers capitalize on Berman’s efforts.
Boosting Auburn to the finish line, Williams went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line to notch 10 points and seal Auburn’s 10th conference win by 15 or more.
Johni Broome led the Tigers with 17 points and six rebounds, and Denver Jones hit three 3-pointers to give him 15 points. Starters Williams and Chad Baker-Mazara joined them scoring in double figures with 10 a piece.
Entering the game projected as a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament in ESPN’s bracketology, Auburn earned a much-needed Quadrant 1 win over Mississippi State, who entered the game as a projected 8-seed. That is a valuable win, as Auburn has no more Quadrant 1 opportunities in its final two regular-season games.
Auburn is no longer in contention for first place in the SEC, but it still has seeding in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament on the line as it closes out its third consecutive 20-win season with games against Missouri and Georgia.