LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 1 overall seed Auburn held just a one-point lead with under two minutes to play in the first half but fended off a feisty Hornet squad with a second-half surge and pulled away for an 83-63 win over No. 16-seed Alabama State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Rupp Arena on Thursday.
With the win, Auburn holds a 7-0 series all-time series advantage over Alabama State and Bruce Pearl surpassed Sonny Smith as the program's winningest coach in the NCAA Tournament.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Fast start turns bitter
Auburn shot out of the gates to an 18-8 lead and a 13-3 run to start the game, led by a barrage of threes from Miles Kelly, who made his first four attempts from deep, and some smothering defense. The Hornets were held scoreless for nearly three minutes at the under-12 timeout.
Chaney Johnson came alive after the break and gave the Tigers a 28-15 lead with 8:02 left to play in the first half as he went on a personal 6-0 run.
Alabama State’s Tony Madlock made the adjustments needed right then and there as the Hornets began to throw a 3-2 zone look at Auburn. After holding the 13-point lead, the Tigers went the next 6:49 without a bucket, settling for unnecessary looks from deep – 19 threes attempted in the half compared to 13 twos – and Alabama State blasted for a 12-1 run until the Tigers answered with a 9-0 run of their own to close out the half.
Additionally, Auburn’s recent free throw woes continued as it went 7-of-14 from the charity stripe. Outside of Kelly’s five makes from deep, the Tigers shot 1-of-11 from beyond the arc.
Second half surge
Since Alabama State cut the Tigers’ lead to one with 1:48 left in the first half, Auburn went on a 24-7 run – 9-0 run to end the half and a 17-7 run to start the second half.
Auburn’s defense tightened up in the second half as it held the Hornets scoreless for 5:31 and a 2-12 start up until the under-12 timeout. The Hornets were only able to muster 10 makes from the field in the final 20 minutes as the Tigers forced them into five turnovers and held the Hornets' highest scorer, Amarr Knox, to just nine points in the half.
Miles ‘Rupp Arena’ Kelly
“Ever since I knew we were coming back to Rupp Arena, my eyes just lit up,” Kelly said on Wednesday prior to the Tigers first round showdown. “They’re (the rims) just soft. Every ball that I put up here, I feel like it's going in.”
The last time the sharpshooting guard was in Rupp Arena, he exploded for a season-high 30 points and nine makes from deep. And he picked up right where he left off.
Kelly finished his night with a team-high 23 points – his highest since his last outing in this same building – and turned in seven makes from deep to lead the way for a Tigers’ offense that struggled from beyond the arc with just four makes from the rest of the squad.
Chaney Johnson, Tahaad Pettiford bounce back
Johnson mirrored his midseason self in a breakout game in which he scored 13 points and added 7 rebounds. Johnson has been on a skid lately, shooting just 31% from inside the arc in the last five games with a total of 16 points in that same span. He notched seven points in the first half, which was his highest scoring outing since the Tigers took down Ole Miss in Neville Arena on Feb. 26, and ended his night with 13 points on a 5-of-9 shooting performance.
Additionally, after going scoreless in the Tigers’ SEC Tournament loss to Tennessee – 0-for-8 from the field – Tahaad Pettiford showed that he was the best athlete on the floor today as he blew past Hornet defenders with ease time and time again. He broke loose for 16 points and hauled in five rebounds while dishing out five assists on a 5-of-9 shooting performance.
The duo combined for 29 points and 12 rebounds off the bench - one that scored just three points in its most recent outing.
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