AUBURN — The No. 5 Auburn Tigers have yet another pesky opponent coming to Neville Arena, as they host the North Alabama Lions on Monday.
The Lions (3-1) are coming off a heartbreaking 97-96 loss to Samford in overtime. Their three wins have come by a combined 70 points, led by dynamic scoring guard Jacari Lane who averages 22.8 points per game and scored 32 in the loss.
“They shoot the three really well as a team," said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. “They've already gone on the road and beat Air Force. So, they’ve got a good road win. Jacari Lane is a terrific scoring guard. He's at about 19 points a game. He's got great range. He's really slippery. He's their point guard, probably their best player.”
For Auburn’s opponents thus far, it’s been a bit of “pick your poison.” Per usual, All-American center Johni Broome has scored in double digits in every game and already notched his 61st career double-double in the win over Kent State last week. Denver Jones, who has not committed a foul in 67 minutes of play, Chad Baker-Mazara and Miles Kelly are continuing their scoring ways with 10 and 9.7 points per game, respectively.
Tahaad Pettiford has come on as of late and established himself as one of the best athletes on the floor at any given time, scoring 10 points per game and getting more minutes at point guard than Pearl expected coming into the season.
“My thinking, originally bringing him in as a freshman is, ‘All right, which spot is he going to be the most effective’ and, you know, since he's such a scoring point guard, I just thought that (shooting guard) would be the best place to start him and let him play as a freshman that way. The problem is, he's too good with the ball in his hands to not have him be able to play point," Pearl told reporters.
But it’s been Chaney Johnson, the Division II transfer from UAH last season who has turned heads, averaging 14 points and 8 rebounds per game. Making himself known as the hardest worker on the team, Pearl has raved about Johnson and the improvements he has made since arriving on the Plains.
“Chaney is our hardest worker,” Pearl said. “He’s in the gym all the time. Of course, a great student-athlete that will be graduating shortly. He likes to workout. So, Ira Bowman is in the gym with him everyday. Just getting better – he doesn’t know any other way. And I think the thing is, his confidence is up. His teammates believe in him.”
His teammates, like Jones who saw him work behind Jaylin Williams last year, knew that Johnson was capable of performing as he has so far.
“I would say the reps he put in the gym. Like Tahaad said, he is the hardest worker on our team, and I'm really not surprised what he's doing. He could've done that last year, but obviously we had Jaylin Williams last year, so this year was his time to shine and God is blessing the hard work he's putting in,” Jones said.
Pearl had nothing further to say on the status of Jahki Howard and Ja’Heim Hudson – the two involved in the airplane incident – other than that they were practicing.
Tipoff for Monday is set for 8 p.m. CT and will be aired on SECN.
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