First thoughts: No. 22 Auburn notches wire-to-wire win over No. 13 Arkansas
AUBURN – Auburn basketball kicked off the 2023 year inside Neville Arena in style with a wire-to-wire win over No. 13 Arkansas.
The final score: Tigers 72, Razorbacks 59.
Auburn fans didn’t storm the court the way Arkansas fans did one year ago, but it was still a very significant win for head coach Bruce Pearl and this Tigers’ team.
The matchup marked the first ranked-versus-ranked home game since Kentucky last season and is Auburn’s first ranked opponent this season. Tonight’s win extends the Auburn’s home game win streak to 27, the fourth-longest active home-court win streak in the country.
Saturday’s matchup pitted two of the winningest programs in the SEC (Auburn, 133-47, .739 and Arkansas, 126-58, .685) over the last six seasons and two of the winningest active head coaches in NCAA Division I by percentage – Auburn’s Bruce Pearl (9th, 625-246 (vacated record), .718) and Arkansas’ Eric Musselman (5th, 195-64, .753).
Arkansas leads 37-21 in the all-time series with Auburn’s win tonight ending a three-game win streak for the Hogs.
The Tigers will play four of their next six games on the road with Ole Miss up next on Jan. 10 in Oxford, Miss. They will also travel to LSU (Jan. 18), South Carolina (Jan. 21) and West Virginia (Jan. 28) for an SEC/Big 12 Challenge matchup in Morgantown, W.Va.
As we always do, here’s First Thoughts from Auburn’s 12th win of the season.
Wendell Green Jr., Allen Flanigan enjoy huge games
Wendell Green Jr. has struggled. He’d be the first to say it. Green Jr. entered Saturday night hitting just 3 for his last 25 three-point attempts, and was fresh off a 2-12 shooting performance at Georgia. But against Arkansas, Green Jr. started with a bang and never slowed down.
Green Jr. hit a three while being fouled to start the game. He knocked down the free throw, scored four quick points, and Auburn never trailed for the rest of the game. Green Jr. finished with a team-high 19 points, three boards and five assists.
And how about Allen Flanigan? Three days after scoring 11 points in a loss at Georgia and shooting 50 percent from the field, Flanigan followed that performance up with 18 huge points and eight rebounds against his home state Hogs. Flanigan accounted for 18 of Auburn’s 27 bench points on the night.
Auburn dominates the TO battle
For only the fourth time all season, Auburn committed single-digit turnovers. The Tigers’ eight turnovers were only one more than their season-low of seven against Winthrop. Auburn’s other two games of single-digit turnovers came against George Mason and Colgate. Needless to say, turning the ball over just eight times against a team with five projected NBA draft picks is pretty good.
Arkansas only managed six points off Auburn’s eight turnovers.
On the flip side, Auburn scored 25 points off 14 Arkansas turnovers. Meaning, nearly one-third of the Tigers’ points on the night came off Arkansas turnovers. That’s how you fix an ailing offense and top 70 points for the first time in conference play.
Johni Broome records third straight double-double
For the first time since Austin Wiley did it in 2019-20, an Auburn player has recorded three straight double-doubles after Johni Broome went for 10 points and 10 boards against Arkansas.
Oh, he also added seven more blocks. That’s the second-most on the season for Broome, who previously blocked eight shots against Saint Louis in November. Broome had only blocked more than two shots in a game once in his last seven games.
“Johni stood tall and he’s confident… We feed off of Wendell Green and Johni Broome’s confidence,” Bruce Pearl said after the game. “So, he played big and I think the double double, wherever he’s at right now- He’s had a few in a row, and not since Austin Wiley have we had anybody get as many back-to-back.”
Auburn takes advantage at the FT line, Arkansas doesn’t
Auburn finished the night hitting 17-22 free throws. That’s good for 77 percent, which is the second-highest mark of the season. The Tigers hit 79 percent of their free throws against Memphis and at USC, both resulting in losses.
Arkansas on the other hand, struggled mightily at the foul line, hitting just 19-32 free throws. The Hogs’ inability to hit free throws in the first half is a big reason Auburn led by 11 points at the break. Arkansas was 8-17 at the foul line in the first 20 minutes, while Auburn went 7-9 at the line.
Notables
— Auburn’s 33 percent shooting night from behind the arc (7-21) was the sixth-best mark of the season, and up from 21 percent against both Florida and Georgia.
— Arkansas out-rebounded Auburn by 13 overall, and out-rebounded Auburn by 10 on the offensive end, yet the Tigers scored three more second-chance points than Arkansas on the night.
— Bruce Pearl specifically mentioned Arkansas before the season started when talking about the Tigers’ needing to lean on their depth this season. He said Arkansas was probably the most talented team in the league, but his team goes 10 deep. On Saturday, it showed. The Auburn bench outscored the Arkansas bench, 27-8.
— Auburn led for 39 minutes and 46 seconds. Literally the only time the game was tied was the time it took the Tigers to run their first offensive set, resulting in a Green Jr. three-point bucket plus the foul.
— Arkansas freshman guard Anthony Black showed why he’s a top-12 pick waiting to happen in this year’s NBA Draft. Black scored 23 points, hit 13-16 free throws, grabbed seven boards and dished out four assists. Black scored 13 of Arkansas’ 14 points from 16:47 in the second half to 10:12, single-handily helping the Hogs cut the Auburn lead from 15 points to 10.
Stats
