After their loss at Duke, the Auburn Tigers looked to regroup and get back in the win column. On Sunday, the Tigers returned home and did just that with a crushing win against the Richmond Spiders in a 98-54 bounce-back game.
The first half was all about Auburn. The key factors to their dominance in the first half were hot shooters, precision passing, and glass protection.
The Tiger Trio of Miles Kelly, Denver Jones and Tahaad Pettiford led the ambush in the first 20 minutes. They combined for 63% (33/52) of the team's points in the half and 40% (10/25) of the team’s rebounds in the first half. Despite the struggles on both ends of the floor, Richmond held Johni Broome, the nation’s leading rebounder, to a single rebound that half.
The Tigers closed the half with a 9-0 run, giving them a silky smooth 52-27 cushion heading into the second half.
The second half was more of the same for the Tigers. Auburn started with a 13-2 run, featuring a December Dunk Fest courtesy of Dylan Cardwell, Chad Baker-Mazara and Jahki Howard.
Baker-Mazara, Cardwell and Howard led the way throughout the second-half slam session. Auburn also shot five times as well as Richmond from distance, weaving in 36.4%, while Richmond saw 7.7% of their shots fall through.
We also saw appearances from players such as Blake Muschalek, CJ Williams and Presley Patterson. With their help, the Auburn bench scored nearly six times as many points (41-7) as Richmond’s bench.
Although Auburn’s offense was amazing, only having seven turnovers and allowing three points off of them, their defense was just as dominant. Forcing 15 Richmond turnovers and getting 18 points from those turnovers put the Spiders under the boot.
The Tigers closed out the game with a 10-0 run in the last five minutes of the game, giving the Spiders the venomous taste of defeat with a final score of 98-54.
Sunday’s win is Auburn’s 1,470th win in school history and improves their record to 8-1. Auburn’s next game is on December 14th against Ohio State at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Tipoff will begin at noon as a part of the Holiday Hoopsgiving event.
