AuburnFamilyNews.com: Tip-Off Countdown: #55 (11) Auburn 101 South Alabama 58

NCAA Basketball: South Alabama at Auburn

John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Auburn kicked off 2018-2019 with a bang!!

November 6, 2018 - Auburn Arena

Welcome to our look back through the 2018-2019 season, a season no Auburn fan will never forget!

To recap the offseason: Auburn would lose a trio of pieces to the transfer market in Mustapha Heron (St. John’s), Desean Murray (Western Kentucky) and Davion Mitchell (Baylor) which opened the door for Chuma Okeke to enter the starting lineup. They added Samir Doughty to the lineup who had sat out the entire year after coming from VCU. They would also get a JUCO Point Guard out of Texas, J’Von McCormick, who would only get better as the season rolled along. Anfernee McLemore would return from injury and they would also get Austin Wiley and eventually Danjel Purifoy back and expectations for Auburn were sky high going into the 2018-2019 season.

And don’t forget, we got one more season of Horace Spencer, #ClassicMalik, and the best backcourt in the SEC in Jared Harper and Bryce Brown.

The first possession of the season saw Jared Harper throw a lob to Anfernee McLemore for a dunk and the Tigers were off and running!

The Tigers would go on a 3-point binge after that. Harper will knock down a 3 before Bryce Brown did as well forcing South Alabama to call their 2nd timeout less than 90 seconds into the game. Their 1st came after the opening possession due to Auburn’s pressure defense. It didn’t matter as Harper and Brown would hit another 3 as well as Samir Doughty for his first Auburn points and Auburn led 17-4 at the first TV timeout.

Chuma Okeke had a personal 9-0 run midway through the 1st half as he knocked down a trio of 3-pointers on the way to a 32-7 lead and the Jaguars 3rd timeout with 8 minutes left in the 1st half.

Auburn led by as much as 27 in the 1st half on their way to a 52-33 halftime lead. The Tigers were 12-17 from 3 in the 1st half.

The Jaguars couldn’t make up any ground on Auburn as the lead would swell to 32, 73-41 with 14 minutes to go. It was a big half for Malik Dunbar who scored all 16 of his points in the 2nd half, including 12 straight Auburn points midway through the 2nd half. Auburn would lead by as much as 50, 101-51 when J’Von McCormick hit a 3 with 2:49 left.

Auburn would finish 18-38 from 3-point range on the evening and were led there by Jared Harper going 6-10 scoring 20 points altogether while also having 13 assists and 5 rebounds.

Chuma Okeke also had 20 points with 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Malik Dunbar had 5 rebounds along with his 16 2nd half points. Samir Doughty had 14 points in his Auburn debut and Bryce Brown had 12 points on 4-9 shooting from 3-point range. In his return from injury, Anfernee McLemore had 11 points and 8 rebounds.

Here are the highlights!