No. 2 Auburn used an all-around dominant performance to cruise to a 91-53 victory over Ohio State on Saturday in State Farm Arena.
With the win, Auburn has now picked up its fifth Quad 1 win of the season in just 10 games.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Fast Start
The Tigers couldn’t have had a much better start on Saturday, getting out to an early double-digit lead on a 15-2 run behind four 3-pointers from four different shooters – Miles Kelly, Denver Jones, Johni Broome and Tahaad Pettiford.
The Tigers got out to a 17-point lead before going on a scoring drought of almost six minutes. They had four turnovers in 6:41 of play. However, Auburn held Ohio State to two different scoring droughts of six and a half minutes and didn’t allow the Buckeyes to reach double-digits on the scoreboard until nine minutes into the game.
The Tigers’ nine first half threes gave them a 49-21 lead to end the half – the largest lead going into the locker room for the Tigers this season.
Johni Broome
Yet again, Broome made his case for National Player of the Year on Saturday with another dominant performance.
Broome secured his seventh double-double in the last eight games in the first half. It didn’t stop there for the senior All-American, though, as he notched his first career 20-20 performance, becoming the first Auburn player to achieve that feat since Kelvin Ardister in 1989.
He finished with 21 points and 20 rebounds while adding six assists.
Auburn holds one of the nation’s best in-check
Ohio State entered the game as the No. 4 team in the country shooting 41.6% from 3-point range while boasting four players who shot at least 35% from deep. The Buckeyes averaged 23.2 shots from deep entering the game and shot just 16 attempts on Saturday.
The Buckeyes hit just one shot from deep in the first half – which came with 1:22 left before halftime – and finished the day hitting just six shots from beyond the arc. The Buckeyes leading scorer Bruce Thornton came into the contest shooting a whopping 53.1% from 3-point range and was held to just one make from deep. They ended the game shooting 37.5% from deep with a few late threes in garbage time boosting that number.
Meanwhile, Auburn stays hot from deep
As mentioned, Auburn got out to an early double-digit lead in the first half behind an array of threes. The Tigers hit nine first half threes and four in the second half. Pettiford started off the second half shooting efforts from deep, which marked this game as the third-straight that the Tigers have hit the double-digit mark from beyond the arc. It was the first time the Tigers have done so in three straight games since the 2021-22 season.
Jones led the way, going 4-of-5 from deep with Pettiford going 3-of-4. Kelly and Jahki Howard both made two 3-pointers apiece. Auburn shot a 43.3% clip from deep en route to its 38-point win.
The Tigers are back in action on Tuesday in Neville Arena against Georgia State. Tipoff is set for 7 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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