AUBURN – The No. 2 Auburn Tigers are gearing up for another big test on Saturday as they travel to Atlanta to take on Ohio State in the Holiday Hoopsgiving Event.
Already having played two top-five matchups, a top-10 matchup and a top-12 matchup, the battle-tested Tigers will see yet another strong backcourt with the Buckeyes coming into the game as the No. 5 most efficient three-point shooting team in the nation, according to Torvik, shooting a 41.6% clip from deep.
“Ohio State is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country. And well, they’ve got four guards that shoot it at a really, really high percentage,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl.
The Buckeyes have two guards shooting over 50% from deep in John Mobley, Jr. and Bruce Thornton. Thornton leads the squad in scoring with 16.2 points per game and Mobley, Jr. is one of four Buckeyes averaging double digits with 12.9 points per game.
“Bruce Thornton is as big and strong and physical a guard as we’ll play all year long. Meechi Johnson, we've seen a lot of because he's been at South Carolina and we know what an incredible shooter he is and a downhill scorer,” Pearl said. “John Mobley is a freshman, shooting really well. And then (Micah) Parish is shooting it great.”
The Tigers have seen their fair share of high-scoring guards this season and have been exploited defensively by some – Memphis’ Pj Haggerty and Duke’s Isaiah Evans. In Auburn’s lone loss of the season, it was Evans who made the difference in the game from beyond the arc – 18 first half points on six 3-pointers. Ohio State’s guards bring the same kind of moxie to the table as Evans displayed in the first half against Duke.
“Our defense has been really good – with the exception of the Duke game. A lot of it had to do with our opponent, but we didn't bother Duke with our defense, and we've been able to bother every other opponent,” Pearl said. “And the only game we lost was the game that our defense didn't dominate the game.”
Auburn will counter with a strong three point prowess of its own, coming into the game shooting at a 37.6% clip from deep. Miles Kelly is shooting 49% – leading all Tigers from deep – with Tahaad Pettiford and Chad Baker-Mazara both over 40% as well.
“I think that the fact that, when he was at Georgia Tech he was option one and two,” Pearl said of Kelly. “And here he's one of our top options. But because there are other guys you've got to cover – you can't put your best defender on everybody, whether it's Chad Baker, or Tahaad Pettiford or Denver Jones. You know, pick your poison”
Needless to say, get ready for what could be a 3-point shootout in State Farm Arena on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. CT and can be seen on ESPN2.
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