Observations: Auburn 87, LSU 74
The Tigers played far from their best, but they did more than enough to get a double-digit Quad 1 road win in SEC play. That's big.
(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)
BATON ROUGE, La. — Whenever Auburn and LSU play each other, weird stuff is bound to happen.
It’s something that crosses multiple sports. Maybe it’s the universe repelling against the fact that both of these teams want to be called the Tigers. Maybe it’s the unholy mix of Chaos Auburn and Louisiana voodoo. Maybe it’s something more than that.
So, when Auburn opened its game at LSU on Wednesday night with a possession that featured six offensive rebounds and zero points, it felt less weird that if it would have happened in any other matchup between any other two basketball teams.
But, as it turned out, the first few minutes of Auburn vs. LSU were tone-setters. Auburn had nine offensive rebounds before either team got a defensive rebound. LSU had six turnovers before reaching the second media timeout.
“You know, we couldn't make a bucket,” center Johni Broome said. “So we had to scratch that out and go and rebound it.”
By the end of an odd 40 minutes of basketball in Baton Rouge, the No. 1 team in the country had hit season-highs in offensive boards (25) and opponent turnovers (20).
Because of that, an Auburn team that only hit 40% of its 80 shots — the most in had in a single game since an overtime loss at Arkansas the last time it won the SEC title — was able to win its 12th Quad 1 game of the season and cover the projected spread.
“Look, that's a Quad 1 win,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said after the 87-74 win. “That's a great win for our ball club. … That was sort of a grind. We grinded it out.”
Auburn didn’t trail LSU for the final 29:53 of regulation, and it led by five or more for all of the final 28 minutes. Whenever LSU fought back, Auburn always had a response: a 3-pointer here, a tough Broome bucket there.
“I thought Auburn showed they're a veteran team,” LSU head coach Matt McMahon said. “When we got it down to five or six, we never could get that next stop.”
It wasn’t always pretty. Auburn rushed into some ill-advised shots and had notable defensive breakdowns, particularly in transition. LSU shot 26 free throws, with 19 of them coming in the second half.
Pearl said it best afterwards: The Tigers are going to have to get better and get sharper if they want to keep winning.
But, again, Auburn beat LSU on the road by more points than ranked foes Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Alabama did inside its own buildings. Auburn had a relentless first half on defense and an incredibly efficient second half on defense.
The Tigers didn’t let a traditional trap game trap them, and they walked out with their first double-digit road win of the season. And they’re still the only SEC team without a conference loss — and the only Division I team without multiple losses overall.
“This conference is very tough,” forward Ja’Heim “Turtle” Hudson said. “I played in two different conferences… and every game is tough. Credit to LSU and whoever we got up next. The SEC is a tough league.”
Here are four Observations from Auburn basketball’s 87-74 road win over LSU, along with the Rotation Charts, Nerd Stats and the Quote of the Night.
(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)
Second Half Johni Broome™ returned in a big way
Broome is not fully healthy after the sprained ankle that kept him out of action for the better part of two weeks. He’s moving a little slower out there, and he’s taking a little longer to get up whenever he hits the floor.
“I was good enough to come out here and play,” Broome said, when asked by friend of the newsletter Nathan King if he was 100% again.