PhotoS by Zach Bland and Stephen Leonard /Auburn Tigers
Three Tigers earned All-SEC honors, including (left to right) Johni Broome, All-SEC First Team; Jaylin Williams, All-SEC Second Team; and Aden Holloway, All-SEC Freshman Team.
BY NOAH GRIFFITH FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN –– No. 12 Auburn University men’s basketball (24-7, 13-5) won its last three games in the regular season to lock up a double bye in the SEC Tournament as a No. 4-seed.
“To win 13 games in the league this year is really something,” said head coach Bruce Pearl. “I’m really grateful to our players and our coaching staff. This league was daunting. Our fans enjoyed this team. I’m very grateful for that.”
The Tigers emerged victorious at Missouri before taking down Georgia on Senior Night to rise a spot in the final AP Poll of the regular season. Auburn finished the campaign in a four-way tie at 13-5 in league play, but it surrenders the tiebreaker to Kentucky and Alabama while owning the head-to-head with No. 5-seed South Carolina.
Finishing a game up on those second-place tiebreakers, No. 4 Tennessee won the SEC regular-season title, finishing at 24-7 and 14-4 in SEC play. Kentucky took second place, owning head-to-head matchups with both Alabama and Auburn, and Alabama gets the No. 3-seed.
The Tigers also earned several individual All-SEC honors. Senior Johni Broome was named to All-SEC First Team and All-SEC Defensive Team, senior Jaylin Williams earned a spot on the All-SEC Second Team and Aden Holloway was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team.
Auburn will start SEC Tournament play on March 15 at 2:30 p.m. CST in Nashville by facing the winner of No. 5-seed South Carolina’s game against the victor of Arkansas versus Vanderbilt.
The Tigers have lost their first game of the SEC Tournament the past two years, but it will start this year against a team that it beat by double digits in the regular season. They swept a pair of matchups with Vanderbilt, beat Arkansas by 32 on the road and beat South Carolina at home by 40.
“(In the SEC Tournament), the hardest game to win will be the first one,” Pearl said. “If we can get past the first one, the second or third will actually be easier.”
Following are some highlights from Auburn’s pair of games this past week.
Tuesday, March 5:
Auburn 101 – Missouri 72
Chad Baker-Mazara’s recent stretch is just one reason Auburn is going into the postseason “en fuego,” as the Dominican guard likes to say.
In his fourth straight start, the junior recorded his sixth consecutive double-digit scoring game along with four other Auburn scorers in double figures. At the end of a late-night matchup, it was a team effort that helped Auburn surpass 100 points for the fourth time this season.
Auburn kept Missouri’s winless record in league play intact while recording the most points any opponent scored on the Tigers of Columbia all season. In its final true road game of the season, Auburn got its 10th win by 15 or more points in conference play.
The winning Tigers shot 52.3% as a team and hit 25-of-29 free throws in the offensive explosion, led by Johni Broome’s 17 points. Broome led Auburn’s domination down low, as the team put up 48 points in the paint opposed to 22 from Missouri.
With the size advantage in the front court, Auburn’s eight 3-pointers were plenty. Baker-Mazara splashed three of them while putting up 15 points and seven rebounds. Jaylin Williams nailed a few hook shots to match Baker-Mazara’s 15 points, and Dylan Cardwell rocked the rim with 12.
The big men racked up the points, but Auburn’s guards quietly fueled the fire. Denver Jones, Aden Holloway and Tre Donaldson combined for 11 assists to just one turnover while adding 28 points. Those guys also swiped a steal a piece, accounting for three of four Auburn steals.
It was smiles all around as Auburn eased to its fourth consecutive win over Missouri. 10 of 11 guys who touched the floor scored, and Auburn stayed hot and healthy heading into its season finale.
Saturday, March 9:
Auburn 92 – Georgia 78
Energy seemed easy to come by in Auburn’s final game in Neville Arena this season, as Jones drilled a season-high seven 3-pointers and Williams lit the crowd on fire with several poster dunks.
Starting out on a 14-4 run, Auburn never trailed in the game and led by as much as 21 in the second half in route to a season sweep of Georgia. Even halftime kept the fans buzzing when a student nailed a full-court putt to win a car from Lynch Toyota.
Jones dropped his career-high in an Auburn jersey with 21 points, leading the team in scoring for the first time this season. His barrage of deep balls helped Auburn notch 189 total points between two matchups with UGA this season, including 25 total 3-pointers.
The Tigers racked up points behind electric ball movement. They assisted on 29 buckets, leading to 11 threes and a 51.6% shooting night as a team.
In nontypical fashion, the frontcourt led the assist movement with 18 assists between Broome, Chaney Johnson, Williams and Cardwell. Broome and Johnson dished out five a piece. Williams and Cardwell followed with four.
It wasn’t his best scoring performance, but Broome did it all with 14 points, six rebounds and two blocks while matched up against 7-foot center Russel Tchewa. Despite a double-double from Tchewa and Georgia winning the battle in the paint, the Bulldogs hit just seven threes and went 17-for-30 from the free-throw line.
Jones, a junior, stole the show, but Auburn sent the seniors out with a bang. Along with the surplus of energy from the crowd and a big win, seven Auburn seniors touched the court, and three scored in double figures. Broome scored 15, Williams had 13 and Cardwell finished with 10 to put an exclamation point on Senior Night.
K.D. Johnson also swiped a big steal and converted a tough lay up on the other end while scoring six, and Chris Moore got in on the action with a three. Now a scholarship player, Carter Sobera ended the game on the court alongside walk-on Jalen Harper to wrap up a bittersweet goodbye to Neville Arena without injured senior Lior Berman on the court.