Austin Wiley’s debut was nearly spoiled by Mercer this past Sunday. Nearly, but not. The Tigers were down and out with just seconds to go, trailing Mercer by two at 74–73. Things deteriorated further when an inbound pass to Danjel Purifoy was dropped, forcing Purifoy to dive to the ground while calling for Auburn’s last timeout. He fortunately retained possession, and Auburn had one last chance from mid-court, thanks to the timeout. T.J. Dunans’ corner three won the game, and Auburn took an ugly win against a .500 team.
Auburn played well in spurts, but just as it pulled even or passed the Bears from Georgia, the Tigers would give the lead right back. Though the Tigers only turned the ball over seven times and shot rather well (40 percent from the field, 37 percent from three-point land), they looked most uncomfortable on offense with five-star center Austin Wiley. Additionally, Mercer outshot the Tigers from the field while doubling Auburn’s offensive rebounds 16–7.
It was the instability with Wiley on the floor that really showed. Auburn played essentially four perimeter players with Wiley on the block while Mercer uses a three-two defense. Three players played a rotating man to man while a roving player challenged potential perimeter shots. The defense was effective at preventing Auburn from taking unchallenged three pointers and blocked slashing attacks in the lane as well as legitimate passing attempts to Wiley.
That isn’t to say that Wiley’s debut wasn’t good. Quite the contrary. Despite having only two practices with his team, his talent showed as he scored nine points and added two blocks and three rebounds. None of them were bigger than a critical block on one end and a bucket on the other with just at 50 seconds remaining. Auburn seemed to have the game won when Mustapha Heron’s free throw gave Auburn a two-point lead with just eight seconds left. In a virtual repeat of the loss to Boston College, Auburn just had to keep Mercer from driving the length of the floor for an easy layup. Auburn allowed just that and to complicate matters, Dunans was called for goal tending. Mercer’s Ria’n Holland made the free throw, and the game looked over. But Dunans redeemed himself, and Auburn escaped.
Auburn travels to Connecticut for the Basketball Hall of Fame Birthday of Basketball event. Auburn will play Oklahoma on Wednesday before taking on UConn on Friday. This will be the kind of week Auburn needs to make headway at proving it’s an NCAA tournament team. While struggling against middling competition, the Tigers will get a chance to make statements, especially on Friday on ESPN2.
Oklahoma comes in at 6–4, having lost back-to-back games to Memphis and Wichita State. The Sooners aren’t a very impressive team, but they do play in a tough conference. Senior Guard Jared Woodard is averaging 17 points per contest. Bryce Brown is back from suspension, and he will likely draw Woodard as he is Auburn’s best defender, according to coach Bruce Pearl. However, Brown or whoever guards Woodard has to keep him off the charity stripe. He shoots over 80% from there.
UConn has a legacy of very good basketball but is only 5–5 this season. The team began the season 2–4 before winning three of its last four. The Huskies are led by Jalen Adams, sophomore guard, who averages 17 points per game, and three of their four losses were at home.
Make sure to tune in to these games. The Sooners and Tigers tip off at 7:30 CT on Wednesday on the SEC Network, and the Huskies and Tigers get under way at 1:30 Friday on ESPN2.
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