AUBURN, Ala (EETV)- The #11 ranked Auburn Tigers defeated the #25 Washington Huskies tonight in Auburn Arena.
The key players of the game were Chuma Okeke and Samir Doughty. Okeke led the team with a total of 19 points, a total of 7-11 in field goals and performed 3-3 in three pointers. Doughty did not fall too far behind with a total of 18 points, a 6-9 total in field goals and a 2-8 total for threes.
The main highlight of tonight was the return of center Austin Wiley. It has been nearly two years since the sophomore has played for the Tigers, and Auburn fans gave him a standing ovation for his first start of the season.
During a press conference teammate Bryce Brown said, " It means a lot to have Austin back. It's been almost 600 days since he last played. He'll definitely get back in the swing of things." Coach Bruce Pearl also weighed in on Wiley's return. He stated, "Wiley's last game was of March of 2016. It's now November of 2018. He was a little rusty, but he'll get back into it."
After the first half, Auburn led 48-30 at the break. Washington outscored in percentile for the second half, but they could not keep up with Auburn's dominate plays. At the beginning of the second half Auburn was leading with 30 points after Jared Harper scored his second three pointer, putting the Tigers at 64-34.
The crowd was loud and embodied the Jungle experience. Washington's head coach, Mike Hopkins described the matchup as one of the "best college fan bases he has experienced." He compared the atmosphere to the fourth of July.
With a final score of 88-66 against the Huskies, Auburn improves their record to 2-0 for the season. The Tigers will play against Mississippi College next Wednesday at 7 p.m. CDT at Auburn.
