Observations: Auburn 84, Oregon 73
The Tigers improved their D and shotmaking in the second half to get a quality win in Vegas. But they've got some quick work to do before Michigan.
LAS VEGAS — The first night of the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas featured two things that Auburn basketball fans everywhere really wanted to see.
The first was Tahaad Pettiford breaking out of his early-season scoring slump, as he tied a career-high with 24 points while hitting half of his 18 shots from the field.
The second was Keyshawn Hall playing at all against Oregon, as he came back from a sprain he suffered in a 1-point loss to Houston eight days earlier.
But it was rather telling that, when Auburn truly took control of what would become an 11-point win, it happened with Pettiford and Hall spending time on the bench.
“It’s strength in numbers with this group,” head coach Steven Pearl said, just moments after being swarmed by his players in a celebratory TV interview. “Our guys went through a lot of adversity this year. BP retiring was not easy. Us losing our first (exhibition) game to Oklahoma State was not easy.
“Our guys have just done a great job of responding to tough moments, coming back and relying on each other, leaning on each other and finding ways to win games.”
Auburn tightened its grip on Oregon in the 2:48 in which Hall wasn’t on the floor in the second half. That was part of a 5:10 stretch in which the Ducks didn’t score a single point, going from up 1 to down 9 to the Tigers.
Freshman forward Sebastian Williams-Adams, who played the final 16:35 of regulation, held it down for Auburn without Hall. He was joined by Division II transfer wing Elyjah Freeman. That duo would lead Auburn in plus/minus at +11 and +13, respectively, for their first quality win in Division I ball.
“Whew,” Pettiford exhaled afterwards, shaking his head at SWA and Freeman’s lines.
Then, shortly after Hall returned to the floor, Pettiford found his way off of it with four fouls. By the time he got back and was able to play a handful of seconds before his fifth foul, Auburn was up by double-digits for good. Those crunch-time point guard minutes were handled by freshman Kaden Magwood and 2-guard Kevin Overton.
Without its lone returner and its leading scorer at times, Auburn still got the job done.
“That just shows we can go to our bench at any time — and the trust that we have in our guys,” Pettiford said. “Kaden just being a freshman, him coming out there and showing he’s ready, being poised… just shows that he’s ready for the moment. And if he needs to come in there and be a leader and be poised, then he showed that he can do that today.”
That’s the heart and soul of Auburn basketball. The styles may change. The rosters definitely change. The head coaches even changed.
But the Tigers are built on a culture of chemistry both on and off the floor. Everybody plays a role, from the key players down to the scout-teamers. That, as Pearl noted recently, goes to the staff, where the coaches through the equipment manager and team nutritionist are working overtime in a three-games-in-three-days event.
Anybody can be asked to step up at any moment. Just ask Emeka Opurum, who collected two DNPs already this season but had to play seven important first-half minutes at center with Auburn’s bigs in foul trouble Monday. (He’s the one yelling.) Without him, Auburn would have had a much tougher time winning the second half.
So while it’s obviously important to have the star power like Auburn has in the preseason All-SEC selection Pettiford and the former Big 12 leading scorer Hall, the 11-point win over Oregon was a reminder that the balance and the buy-in from everybody are always going to be key components to this program’s success.
“Proud of our guys and our effort,” Pearl said. “But we’ve gotta get to work.”
Here are four Observations from Auburn’s 84-73 win over Oregon, along with the Rotation Charts, Nerd Stats and a quick scouting report on Tuesday’s opponent — recent Sweet 16 foe Michigan.
