The No. 2 Auburn Tigers cruised to an 87-69 win in dominating fashion over the No. 16 Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday in Legacy Arena in Birmingham.
The win gives Auburn its sixth Quad 1 win and its fourth win versus a ranked opponent this season, which matches the number of regular season non-conference wins versus top-25 opponents in program history.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Broome good to go
The question heading into this one was the status of All-American big man Johni Broome after he suffered a shoulder injury in the Tigers' game against Georgia State on Tuesday.
Broome quickly put health questions to rest as he buried a three in the early goings and accounted for five of the Tigers' first 10 points. He finished in his usual ways with another double-double, going for 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead all Tigers in both categories. It was his seventh 20-point double-double this season.
Smothering defense
Purdue got off to a fast start, going 3-of-5 from the field and going back and forth with the Tigers early on. But that’s where it stopped.
From that point forward, Auburn had the Boilermakers bottled up defensively. A team that came into the game averaging 77.2 ppg while shooting over 40% from deep – four of the Boilermakers’ starters shoot 42% or better from deep – was held to a 39% clip from the field (23-of-59) and 34.8% from deep.
Auburn turned the Boilermakers over 12 times, scoring 23 points on the other end. The Boilermakers' leading scorer – Trey Kaufman-Renn – got his fair share with 15 points, but only two other Boilermakers reached double digits.
Simply put, Auburn made every pass and shot attempt difficult for Purdue en route to its 18-point win, finishing with six blocks.
Hustle Stats
Auburn had an advantage in almost every statistical category on Saturday, a common trend for the Tigers this season and a large part of why they lead the country in Quad 1 wins.
Auburn won the rebounding battle 39-to-34, more than doubled Purdue in second chance points (18), and had 17 fast break points.
Cohesiveness on display
Auburn entered the game 15th nationally, averaging 18.7 assists per game—compared to just 7.5 for AU’s opponents. The Tigers recorded 24 assists in the game, making it five times this season that they have recorded at least 23 assists. Chad Baker-Mazara collected six assists, while Chaney Johnson and Tahaad Pettiford had five each. Denver Jones chipped in four.
Over half of the Tigers' field goals were assisted and led to wide-open looks from beyond the arc – 10-of-26 – and an array of alley-oops.
The playmaking ability from every position on the court sent a largely favored Tiger crowd of 17,000 into an explosion on multiple occasions, with an alley-oop from Johnson to Jahki Howard putting the cherry on top, giving the Tigers a once 29-point lead.
The Tigers return to action on December 30 in Neville Arena against Monmouth. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. CT and will be streamed on SECN+.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email logan.fowler@1819News.com.
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