AUBURN — Auburn basketball notched its first win in conference play as it cruised past No. 15 Arkansas 95-73 on Saturday at Neville Arena.
With the win, Auburn improved to 10-6 on the season and pushed its win streak over the Razorbacks to three. In addition, Auburn head coach Steven Pearl notched his third career win over a Hall of Fame coach in John Calipari – the other two coming against Oregon's Dana Altman on November 24 and Rick Pitino at St. John’s on November 26.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Keyshawn Hall lifts Auburn to double-digit win
Another night, another 30-ball for Hall.
The Tigers relied on their leading scorer once more and rode him all the way to the finish line as Hall tallied 32 points on the night – the second straight game he has gone for 30-plus. Per Auburn media relations, he is the first Auburn player to notch back-to-back 30-point games since Wesley Person in 1994.
Hall poured in 18 first-half points and surpassed 1,500 career points on the night. He went 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, 11-of-14 from the field and netted four free throws. He led the nation in free throws made entering Saturday.
Saturday’s performance gives Hall his ninth 20-plus-point game of the season, and he has scored in double figures in every outing.
Auburn owns the paint
The Tigers dominated in the frontcourt from start to finish on Saturday night.
Heading into the break with a 30-8 advantage in the painted area, Auburn extended its advantage down low to 48-26 to end the night, marking the first time since the St. John’s win that the Tigers have outscored their opponents down low by double digits.
The Tigers owned the rebound advantage 37-28 and hauled in nine offensive rebounds with 18 second-chance points.
Defense does its job
Auburn knew coming into this one, it was going to have its hands full with Arkansas’ prolific scoring guards.
And freshman guard Darius Acuff, Jr. – who holds a four-week streak of being named SEC Freshman of the Week – still made his mark with 19 points on the night to lead the Razorbacks.
Meleek Thomas, who was averaging 23 points per game over the last nine outings, scored 17 points -- 12 in the second half. It held Arkansas to 43% from the field on the night, 17.5 points below its season average, which ranked 16th nationally.
In addition, the Tigers ran the floor well and held the third-best fastbreak scoring squad in the nation to just 13 points in transition while scoring 15 of their own.
Tigers share the ball
Auburn came into this one averaging just 14.3 assists per game, which was good for 193rd nationally and 14th in the SEC.
The Tigers tallied 20 assists against an Arkansas defense that was in shambles on Saturday, making it just the third time they have surpassed the 20-assist threshold this season.
Tahaad Pettiford did his damage on Saturday by creating plays for his teammates, leading the Tigers with seven assists. Hall tallied five with Elyjah Freeman dishing out three.
The Tigers will return to action on Wednesday as they travel to Mizzou Arena to take on the Missouri Tigers. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN2.
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