AuburnFamilyNews.com: Tip-Off Countdown: #71 Auburn 89 Connecticut 64

Friday, September 4, 2020

Tip-Off Countdown: #71 Auburn 89 Connecticut 64

Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports

A Beatdown on the Plains!

December 22, 2017 - Auburn Arena

During my last 2 years at Auburn, I missed a total of 4 home games all during the Holiday Breaks. This is the one game I regret not traveling back to Auburn to see in person.

Connecticut came into this game road weary to say the least, as they played Arizona out in Tucson on Thursday night before a Saturday afternoon tip in Auburn. This was not a vintage UConn team and this was the last year the program was led by Kevin Ollie as the Huskies had fallen on hard times. Auburn didn’t make their stay on the Plains very welcoming from start to finish.

An early 7-7 tie was broken by a 16-0 Auburn run. Auburn hit 4 3-pointers in the run, including 3 of them from Malik Dunbar. Auburn would continue to extend the lead through the 1st half and the half was capped off by a Jared Harper 3-pointer to put Auburn up 47-24 at halftime.

In the second half, Auburn continued to keep the foot on the gas pedal, never giving the Huskies any opportunity to crawl back into the game. The Tigers built a 36 point lead in the 2nd half and did the majority of their 2nd half scoring early to allow the end of the bench to get some playing time.

It was a balanced scoring attack for Auburn as 7 players had at least 8 points with no player scoring more than 13 points.

Connecticut native Mustapha Heron and Desean Murray each had 13 points, pulling down 7 and 6 rebounds respectively. Dunbar scored 12 points. Jared Harper had 11 points and 7 assists. Davion Mitchell scored 10 points, Horace Spencer had 9 points and 10 rebounds and Bryce Brown had 8 points.

Here are the highlights!