Observations: Auburn 72, Texas Southern 56

Auburn’s start to the season has been light on style points but heavy on learning, with a wide variety of lineups maximizing what Bruce Pearl can find out.

SG K.D. Johnson and SF Allen Flanigan (Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)

Through four games, the only thing consistent about Auburn basketball is its excellent defense.

And a lot of that has been by design.

The offensive output? The lineups from Bruce Pearl? The star performances? Throw out any preconceived notions. The one thing you can bank on for the Tigers right now is that it can come from anybody at any given moment.

On Friday night, Wendell Green Jr. had his quietest game of the season, a function of Texas Southern’s dedicated focus to slowing him down. Johni Broome, fresh off his best performance as a Tiger, was sidelined with a bone bruise after going knee-to-knee in that same great game.

During the first half, both of those things were apparent, as Auburn couldn’t get much going against a fearless Texas Southern defense.

Then Auburn blitzed Texas Southern in the second half with a 14-2 run, then a 8-2 run, then an 11-0 run. The depth, once again, was on full display in a 72-56 victory t…