Auburn Scores Huge Road Win, Vols Come to the Plains

The fourth annual SEC/Big XII Challenge tipped off this past week and the SEC was 0-3 n the series causing many to speculate that it was now or never for the SEC to change the perception of the league. After all, the SEC has reloaded with quality coaches over the last three years. As had been typical, the SEC dropped the first two games but rattled off four straight wins, putting them on the cusp of beating a powerhouse basketball conference. All that remained was the SEC’s blueblood, Kentucky, and one of its resident dumpster dwellers, Auburn. 

Auburn was playing in Fort Worth against a team that many believe will make the Big Dance – the TCU Horned Frogs. Few gave the Tigers any chance of winning, especially considering the 98-69 slaughter that Auburn had endured just days before to South Carolina, a team also headed to the NCAA tournament. 

Before a sold-out crowd at Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena, the nearly all freshman Tigers controlled most of the first half, leading by as much as eight points before setting for a 45-43 halftime score, despite the fact that TCU’s 6-11 forward Vladimir Brodziansky was nearly perfect from the floor. Auburn seemed to have no answer for the big man, but the truth was that it wasn’t nearly about his talent than Auburn’s defense being completely out of position for much of the half. TCU’s Alex Robinson and JD Miller continued to sneak passes around Auburn’s defense in the paint, leading to some very easy buckets.

Despite the nearly perfect start for Brodziansky, who finished 7-9 from the floor for 19 points, Auburn’s offense covered up for the young team’s defensive woes. Mustapha Heron had another double-digit scoring performance extending his own record, as he was 7-11 from the field including 1-1 from beyond the arc, on his way to 17 points. And Auburn got another terrific outing from Jared Harper, who finished with 13 points and four assists. 

However, the star of the game was easily Austin Wiley, who had a game that destroyed the expectations fans had come to hold of the young player. Everyone expects the young man to become a great player for Auburn, but most had seen his struggles, especially with the physicality that comes with the college game. The player who has been out of highschool for mere weeks and should be attending his senior prom in the next few days has struggled at finishing buckets when he knows he is going to be fouled. Additionally, he has been out-muscled down low – Not this game.

Wiley wanted the rock on the blocks and when he was guarded, he went up with authority time and time again. This time, instead of tossing an errant shot to draw two free throws, No. 50 went up strong and finished the play. Wiley scored 25 points, a career high, and added four offensive rebounds. 

As a team, the Tigers seemed to transform in front of their fans. The perimeter shooting team that couldn’t rebound finished the game with 13 offensive rebounds while shooting under 30% from long distance and over 50% elsewhere. Still, the team wasn’t very good elsewhere, finishing at 60% from the charity stripe and 19 turnovers. 

Typically, the play of one player isn’t enough to overcome those numbers. Enter Anfernee McLemore. The oft-forgotten freshman had struggled to see the floor early in the season as he played fourth fiddle to the rotation of Horace Spencer, Austin Wiley, and LaRon Smith. With Smith fading from the picture and a new lineup that features Spencer and Wiley playing together, McLemore has begun to log more and more minutes. McLemore struggled early in the season, due to a lack of minutes, though his athleticism and effort were hard to ignore. However, in the last three games, McLemore has found a good groove. McLemore was quietly 6-6 from the field, scoring 13 points, a block, a steal and, most importantly, three offensive rebounds. He did all of this in just 18 minutes of play. 

Not to be forgotten, slasher T.J. Dunans didn’t have a very good night shooting the basketball, but he added seven rebounds and a whopping seven assists. 

The Tigers led by as many as 21 points in the second half, but youth caught right back up to them. Exceedingly poor play down the stretch allowed TCU to turn that deficit into a manageable game very late. Still, Auburn left Ft. Worth with a much-needed 88-80 win. It cannot be overstated just what a road win against a good team means with this young team. The win by Auburn insured that, for the first time, the SEC would not lose this challenge. Unfortunately, Ole Miss and Kentucky couldn’t pull out wins and the SEC settled for a tie. 

The Tigers host Tennessee tonight (1/31/2017) in a very important matchup.

Like the Tigers, the Crimson Tide, and many other SEC teams, the Volunteers are looking to fill the gap behind Kentucky that had been vacated by Florida after the departure of Billy Donovan. Most of these teams are in very critical junctures of their coach’s young tenure.

Much like Auburn circa 2000, Tennessee has been a tournament team behind Kentucky, most recently under former UT coach and current Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. 

The Vols are 12-9, but 4-4 in conference after two good wins against Kentucky and then Kansas State. The Tigers enter the contest with a 14-7 record, but are 3-5 in-conference play. The winner of this game maintains a spot in the middle of the conference, which would be the staging point for a decent run in the SEC tournament, avoiding the better conference teams. 

The two teams are quite similar in statistics, though they get the job done by different means. Auburn is still a very good three-point shooting team and the Vols are not. Both teams are dead even in rebounds and assists.

The Vols feature nearly four players who score in double-digits per game, led by Robert Hubbs, III who averages 15 points per contest. Tennessee averages a whopping 77 points per game while holding opponents to 74, which ranks 223rd and is an area Auburn can exploit. Obviously, Auburn has the same issue with letting teams score. The Tigers check in at 276th. This has the makings of a shoot-out.

The match tips off at 8PM on the SEC Network. Make sure to follow me on Twitter as I live tweet the game @Best5Zach

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