AUBURN – Coming off its first loss of the season to No. 9 Duke on Wednesday, No. 2 Auburn will return to Neville Arena on Sunday against Richmond for its first home game since November 18.
“I wonder how many power-five conference schools have been, not at a home game in 20 days,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. “The opportunity to go to Maui and then be involved in the ACC/SEC Challenge at Duke was obviously a real tough stretch for us, travel-wise.”
The Tigers, which currently have the No. 4 strength of schedule in the country, according to KenPom, will welcome another talented squad to the court on Sunday in Richmond. The Spiders are currently averaging 71.1 points per game led by prolific guard DeLonnie Hunt who averages 20 points per game in 35.4 minutes of action.
“Coach (Chris) Mooney, he didn't invent the five-out Princeton stuff, but he probably runs it as well as anybody. So it's a great game for us, because nobody will run five-out better,”’ Pearl said. “We run some five-out – nobody will run it better than Richmond. And the way he does it, they've got a great guard that was one of the leading scorers in Hunt. He’s one of the leading scorers in the country. Real quick, real fast, hard to stand in front of and does a great job of getting the foul line.”
The Tigers have seen their fair share of prolific scoring guards so far this season, and they countered that with getting out to fast starts offensively with what’s – analytically – one of the best starting groups in the country that has led to them being the No. 1 adjusted offensive team in the country.
“Analytically, the starting lineup of the ones we've had with Denver (Jones), Miles (Kelly), Chad (Baker-Mazara), Dylan (Cardwell) and Johni (Broome), has analytically been the best five in the country. So, you don't want to mess with that,” Pearl said.
Although the aforementioned group of starters gets things rolling early for the Auburn offense, one of the Tigers’ best scoring options in Tahaad Pettiford comes off the bench to provide valuable minutes at point guard as a freshman. Pettiford’s play elevates in big moments and he’s coming off a 20-point performance against the best defensive team in the country in Duke. Through eight games, Pettiford has had two 20+ point performances and has scored in double digits in two other games while chipping in a 41% clip from deep.
“You know, Tahaad certainly could play starters minutes, and he certainly could be in at the end of games. He's been in at the end of some close games. He was in a little bit of foul trouble in the second half (against Duke), and so we gave him a rotation out,” Pearl said. “But Tahaad is obviously showing what he's capable of doing and will continue to play more and more point guard. Again, I brought him in as an undersized, scoring two-man and he's really good with the ball as well.”
Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. on Sunday and can be seen on SECN.
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