AUBURN — The No. 4 Auburn Tigers cruised to a 102-69 win over North Alabama on Monday night in Neville Arena behind a 30-point performance from Johni Broome.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Another big night for Johni Broome
Would it be an Auburn basketball game if the All-American and National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome wasn’t mentioned?
Broome had yet another stellar performance with 30 points and 17 rebounds on the night while securing his 62nd career double-double with 18:30 left in the second half. His 30-point performance tied his career-high while at Auburn, and he was just two points shy of his career-high 32 points at Morehead State.
Broome went on two separate runs of 7-0 and 6-0 to end the first half to propel the Tigers to a 50-37 lead heading into the locker room and scored 13 second-half points while hauling in 10 boards.
Auburn blows the gates open to start second half
A first half that saw Jacari Lane — UNA’s leading scorer and pre-season All-ASUN selection — score 17 points and the Lions take a one-point lead was quickly overshadowed after a 17-6 run to start the half for Auburn.
The Tigers matched their points per game average (82) with eight minutes left to play. Miles Kelly poured in 10 second-half points and two 3-pointers to go along with Broome’s 13. Auburn also turned it up on the defensive end of the floor and held Lane to just two points while turning the Lions over eight times, which they converted into 15 points on the other end of the floor.
Auburn is yet to allow an opponent to score 70 points this season.
Hot night from the field sees the Tigers reach 100
It was a prolific night from the field for the Tigers in which they shot a whopping 62% on the night — 44% from deep on 12 made threes. Five different Tigers scored in double digits — Broome (30), Denver Jones (13), Chad-Baker-Mazara (12), Miles Kelly (12) and Dylan Cardwell (12).
With under two minutes left to go, Pearl cleared the bench and inserted a handful of walk-ons, but the fireworks kept going off. Presley Patterson added a 3-pointer, and CJ Williams contributed a bucket to vault the Tigers over the 100-point threshold and send Neville Arena into a frenzy.
Still no Jahki Howard or Ja’Heim Hudson
Hudson and Howard, the two players involved in the airplane altercation when heading to Houston, were both dressed and participated in a pregame shootaround but did not see any action on Monday night.
Bruce Pearl mentioned that they have been involved in practice since the incident and were handling the situation “head-on.”
With the Tigers gearing up to possibly play three games in as many days a week from now, it will be interesting to see if the two are ready to go for the potential three-game stretch during which the Tigers could see, at most, three top-10 teams.
The Tigers will hit the road for the Maui Invitational later this week, with their first game set for next Monday against No. 5 Iowa State at 8 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email logan.fowler@1819News.com.
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