Going into the second media timeout, Vanderbilt led Auburn 16-14 with 11:32 to go in the first half. And then Auburn took complete control.
The Tigers went on a 25-4 run to take a 19 point lead and never let the lead drop below 13 after that point en route to an 80-65 win over Vanderbilt in Nashville.
"We obviously respected Vanderbilt," said coach Bruce Pearl. "We prepared well for them. I thought Jaylin Williams was phenomenal. Dylan Cardwell, those two guys had great games."
JAYLIN WAS PERFECT
Literally, Williams was perfect on Wednesday. The fifth year senior posted 21 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field. That worked out to a true shooting of 112 percent.
He also added eight rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.
In addition, Williams had an individual offensive rating of 211.3 and a PER of 24.5.
"The open shots I had, it was when they were pressuring us a little bit, so I wasn't really feeling those shots to begin with," Williams said. "Then I was looking for my teammates. Things ended up pretty good for me."
FIRST HALF RUN
Let's talk a bit about the run that basically sealed the game in the first half.
From the 11:32 mark until there were 51 seconds left in the half, Auburn went on an extended 25-4 run.
During the run, Vanderbilt shot 2-of-18 from the field and committed seven turnovers.
"Vanderbilt is last in our league in assists," Pearl said. "They average 10, and they only had four tonight.
"Tyrin Lawrence will make a 1-on-1 play. Manjon will make a 1-on-1 play. Both of those guys, their percentages here tonight weren't great. That's the key. I thought our guys, overall, did a pretty good job defensively, with the exception of fouling too much in the second half."
DYLAN MIP
Cardwell is continuing his campaign as Auburn's most improved player.
Cardwell posted a career-high 12 points to go along with six rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
His improved free throw shooting continued to show as he went a perfect 4-of-4 from the line and upped his free throw percentage to 67 percent, more than double what it was a year ago.
"Yeah, Dylan was just a monster at the rim," Pearl said. "He did a great job of getting at ball screens and getting into the lane, going downhill. And, obviously, defensively, he just doesn't take a possession off. Ever. Ever. If I can just get everybody to do that, we have a chance to be pretty good. Dylan was great. He was great in there."
TALE OF TWO JOHNI'S
In SEC play, Johni Broome has started first halves slow and has come out hot in second halves; that continued on Wednesday.
Broome posted four points on 2-of-6 shooting in the first half, while in the second half, he put up 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
He finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds to go along with three steals and a block.
Broome had a defensive rating of 86.9 and a stop percentage of 129.8.
He also exited the game with an injury towards the end of the game and Pearl said that Auburn will get word on his status on Thursday.
"Johni was productive out there," Pearl said. "Obviously, he was a load on the inside and was really active defensively. He had three steals."
FOULS
The second half was a foul-fest.
The Tigers committed 15 fouls in the second half alone leading the Commodores to shoot 25 free throws in 20 minutes.
It led to Auburn losing the second half 41-39.
"Not happy with how we played in the second half," Pearl said. "Vanderbilt was 2 for 5 from the foul line in the first half. In the second half, they shoot 25 free throws. You know … it’s hard to get in any kind of flow."
