Auburn defense carrying its offense
Prior to the season, Bruce Pearl had full confidence in his team’s offense, but the defense was a different story.
It wasn’t a crazy thought; Auburn had lost Allen Flanigan and Zep Jasper and replaced them with offensively inclined players - or so it thought.
“But I think we're better offensively than we are defensively,” Pearl told reporters before the season. “And I think our biggest challenge is one-on-one coverage."
With five regular season games to go, Auburn has an adjusted defensive rating of 91.9 which ranks No. 4 in the country, and allows just 0.825 points per possession which is No. 8 in the country and No. 3 among power conference teams.
A key factor has been Auburn’s incoming transfers all being pluses on the defensive end. Chaney Johnson is in the 96th percentile defensively, per Synergy; Denver Jones is in the 92nd percentile; and Chad Baker-Mazara ranks in the 85th percentile.
It’s safe to say that Pearl’s team has proven they can defend.
“Hearing coach Bruce saying the things he said about us (and) defense,” said Chaney Johnson. “Coach saying we can't really guard for real -- he didn't say those exact words, but kind of like that. Everybody on the team was just like, 'We're just going to show you we can guard.' We worked on it, practice all the time. We're probably going to defensive slides out there before practice.”
Prior to the season, the prevailing thought was that Auburn’s offense would carry its defense, but the opposite has been the case, especially away from home.
In Auburn’s 11 games away from home, only four times has the opponent reached their season average in points, and two of those four were double-digit Auburn wins.
So what’s been the key to Auburn’s defensive success? A few different factors, according to Dylan Cardwell.
“Just being in the gaps,” Cardwell said. “Really supporting everybody and making sure we're not playing one-on-one out there. And then, obviously, if we are playing one-on-one, keeping your guy in front and taking pride in your defense.”
And because of the defensive personnel that Auburn has, it has played a heavier switch-everything mentality compared to previous years which means Cardwell and Johni Broome have had to guard the perimeter more often, but that’s also been a key part of Auburn’s success.
When shooting from behind the arc, shooters are 7-of-37 when Broome is defending them. In addition, Broome has been the primary defender on 54 drives this season, and on those shots, the drivers are 11-of-43 from the field. It’s safe to say that both Auburn centers are comfortable guarding up top.
“I love guarding guards,” Cardwell said. “It's really fun. It just shows the next-level guys that I can guard one through five, and it just gets you opportunity to show you're more than just a traditional big man. I enjoy it. I kind of prefer it because it adds more excitement to the game rather than just playing back in the post."
Overall, Auburn’s defense has been a pleasant surprise for the Tigers, and it’s something they take great pride in.
“Coach always says, 'If you're not going to guard, you're not going to play,'” Cardwell said. “I guess a lot of guys took heart to that and was like, 'We're going to stay in front of our guys.' It's kind of shown for us.”