Observations: Auburn 102, Florida Atlantic 70
Six different players — including four of the five newcomers — scored in double figures as the Tigers ended the preseason in style.
SF Jahki Howard (Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)
AUBURN — On Friday night, the first of what will likely be many Jahki Howard dunks inside Neville Arena started with a steal.
Howard cut off a Florida Atlantic pass at the top of the key and soon found himself racing past everyone else on the other end of the court for a two-handed tomahawk.
The slam prompted the visitors to call a timeout and the arena crew to cut the lights. It was an exclamation point to a 15-0 run, which was part of a larger 23-1 surge that helped take what was a tied game to an eventual 102-70 exhibition win for Auburn.
During that stretch, which lasted 8:55 of game time, Florida Atlantic didn’t hit a single shot from the floor — missing 11 straight attempts. The Owls committed five turnovers and only went to the free-throw line once, splitting their two attempts.
“We pride ourselves on our defense,” All-American center Johni Broome said.
Yes, Auburn looks like a team that could once again have an elite defense, along with elite balance and depth on offense.
“We’re going to continue to be balanced,” head coach Bruce Pearl said. “I think we’re going to continue to play a lot of guys, and that’s the M.O. of our program.”
In the 23-1 run, Auburn got 23 points from five different players. Howard opened and closed the run with a 3-pointer and the dunk, respectively. Fellow freshman Tahaad Pettiford had 10 points by himself. Denver Jones had four. Chad Baker-Mazara threw down a dunk of his own, while Broome scored a layup.
By the end of the home exhibition, Auburn had six different players in double figures. Four of them, including Pettiford and Howard, weren’t on the roster last season. JP Pegues hit three triples in the second half alone, and Miles Kelly marked his Auburn debut by matching Broome with a team-high 15 points.
“I think we've been able to fit in pretty well,” Kelly said. “We've been here since June, so being able to learn the system... We have guys like Johni, some of the guys that came back, to be able to lean on and teach us the system. I feel like we learn pretty quickly, so it's about putting it all together and getting some wins.”
It’s just one game, and it’s one that didn’t count. But beating a team projected to be a little outside the KenPom top 100 of Division I clubs by 32 is still pretty impressive.
And it also showed that Auburn might be able to build upon the formula that just pulled off a 27-win season and featured some of the best numbers in program history.
That will officially start Wednesday night, when Auburn hosts a Vermont team that is just a few spots ahead of Florida Atlantic in the preseason KenPom ratings.
“I thought the guys understood: it's about Vermont,” Pearl said. “Vermont is very Yale-like. I don't want scare anybody. But they're very Yale-like, and we know what that means.”
Here are three big Observations from Auburn basketball’s 102-70 exhibition win over Florida Atlantic, along with the Rotation Charts, Nerd Stats and the Quote of the Night.
SG/SF Miles Kelly (Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)