The No. 2 Auburn Tigers – who lead the country in Quad 1 wins – have a shot at their sixth Quad 1 win on the season as they travel to Birmingham to take on the No. 16 Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday.
The biggest question for the Tigers heading into Saturday’s matchup is the status of All-American Johni Broome after he exited Tuesday night’s game with a shoulder injury. The school released a statement on Wednesday saying that Broome’s injury did not require surgery and he would begin the rehabilitation process immediately while being evaluated on a day-to-day basis.
“Johni, we got a positive report from the standpoint of no surgery required and no damage,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl on Thursday. “He will travel up there and… I couldn’t even tell you a status. Whether it’s questionable, not likely, we just don’t know. But the good news is, it’s not a long-term problem.”
After Broome’s departure, the Tigers’ offense was shaky at times in the first half before senior forward Chaney Johnson exploded for an Auburn career-high 26 points as the go-to scoring option. Though Georgia State’s frontcourt was no slouch, Johnson and the rest of the Tigers will have to plan for a tough battle against the Boilermakers, one whose leading scorer is forward Trey Kaufman-Renn with 18.2 ppg.
“We’ve got to gameplan with him or without him. Probably more without him, but we’ll gameplan both,” Pearl said. “Purdue is a three-headed monster, and they’ve got some other guys that can play also. That can make shots and play really hard and you know how they’re going to play. We won’t have as much depth, obviously, and so therefore foul trouble will be a factor."
The Boilermakers are also led by one of the best playmaking guards in the country in Braden Smith, who leads the squad with 8.5 assists per game. Fletcher Loyer – a 50% 3-point shooter – and Smith join Kaufman-Renn in double-digit scoring efforts with 13.5 and 13.4 ppg, respectively.
“He’s got to be a part of your gameplan and how you guard him,” Pearl said of Smith. “I’m excited for our guards… If this team has a chance to play at a high level, our guards will have to continue to guard like we’ve been guarding. Now, obviously, it’s going to be another challenge against Purdue. But that might be one thing that we might be doing better this year is guarding overall, and certainly our guards have done a really nice job.”
Tipoff for Saturday is set for 3:30 p.m. and will be aired on ESPN.
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