Observations: Auburn 87, Monmouth 58
The Tigers shook off a slow start to end non-conference play with yet another blowout — and have a whole lot of fun while doing it.
(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)
AUBURN — The first one was a lob from just inside the 3-point arc. Tahaad Pettiford jumped up to force a steal on a high pass, then he casually flipped the ball toward fellow freshman Jahki Howard at the rim.
Howard’s feet were still on the ground at the apex of the pass. He caught the ball as it was coming down, clutching it near his waist. Howard, somehow, rocked it all the way around for a windmill alley-oop that only a select few have ever pulled off in a game.
“Growing up, you always see that Gerald Green dunk, when he played for the Nets, that windmill,” center Dylan Cardwell said. “To see it in person, when someone jumps higher than him, looking at the rim? I really couldn’t believe it.”
Howard’s first alley-oop from Pettiford may have looked like Gerald Green, but the second one looked like Bryant Smith — who was sitting over on the bench.
Long before he was a graduate assistant for Auburn, Smith was a fantastic player. One night against Ole Miss, Smith caught a half-court lob from Doc Robinson and slammed it with both of his hands behind his head.
Howard and Pettiford recreated it just a couple of minutes after their first one.
“To be honest, I’m about to go home and rewatch that, because I still can’t believe what I see with my own eyes,” small forward Chad Baker-Mazara said. “But that kid is a freak of nature.”
Each one of those alley-oops would go down as automatic Dunk of the Year winners in any other season. The fact that Howard and Pettiford pulled them off within a few possessions of each other shows you just how special they are — and just how special this Auburn basketball team is.
Those dunks, which were part of a 16-2 run on Monday night, helped make the start that Auburn had against Monmouth a very distant memory.
While the win will be most remembered for the SportsCenter-caliber flash in the second half, it was built on old-school grit in the first half.
Auburn was tied with Monmouth with 6:32 left until halftime. Then Chaney Johnson sparked an 18-0 scoring run alongside superstar center Johni Broome and Baker-Mazara to close the first half. Monmouth later scored seven of the first nine points of the second half, only for Auburn to grab 32 of the next 39.
“We had a little break,” Baker-Mazara said, referring to the Tigers’ eight days between games. “Coming back in, we were just a little sluggish. But, finally, we got into that rhythm, and shots started hitting. We started getting back into our little rhythm. I feel like we got ourselves composed.”
In less than 20 minutes of game time, the Tigers put together three different Kill Shots: runs of 10-0 or more. Auburn cruised to a comfortable 86-58 victory from there, sealing a ninth straight season of zero non-conference home losses.
This year, Auburn won six home non-con matchups by an average of 37 points. Not bad for a schedule that also included six crucial Quadrant 1 victories away from home.
“It was the toughest non-conference schedule in the history of Auburn basketball, and we lost one game at Duke — a close game,” head coach Bruce Pearl said. “So, I'm very, very proud of our kids. A lot of the games we played were at neutral sites and away from home, so we demonstrated that we can win away from Neville.
“Now, we get ready to start the toughest conference schedule in the history of college basketball.”
Here are three big Observations from Auburn’s 29-point win over Monmouth on Monday night, along with the Rotation Charts, Nerd Stats and the Quote of the Night.
(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)
Once again, improved defense was the real difference
The scouting report on Monmouth — a 2-win team that still could claim a road victory at Seton Hall, along with solid stretches at Wichita State and Rutgers — centered on one of the nation’s best scorers, Abdi Bashir Jr.