AUBURN | Defense wins championships.
That’s been a common refrain in football. Auburn’s basketball program is hoping it can do the same.
The Tigers put together a strong defensive performance in their opening 61-58 win over Florida Wednesday night at Neville Arena.
“That’s our team. We’ve got to win defensively,” said point guard Wendell Green. “You know, offense is not always going to be there. And you know championship teams, they have the best defense. So I think that’s our biggest thing this year for the whole conference play.”
It was a defensive play that secured the win against the Gators.
Leading by a point with 18 seconds left, Chris Moore stole the ball from Colin Castleton and found Green for a layup as time expired.
“People think offensively, and I can only think back to football — you've got to make plays defensively,” said AU coach Bruce Pearl. “None of this sitting back. You've got to make plays. You've got to create turnovers.
“And that wins, defensively, and obviously it did for us. They had nine assists and 12 turnovers, didn't shoot it very well from 3 and we ended the game with a defensive stop and a turnover.”
Auburn held Florida to .404 shooting from the floor, .158 from the 3-point line and had a plus-12 rebounding advantage.
Of the eight other teams playing their SEC opener Wednesday, only Arkansas scored fewer points in a 60-57 loss at LSU and shot worse with a .160 average from beyond the arc. Mississippi State (.364), Ole Miss (.373) and LSU (.403) shot worse from the field.
No team held a better rebounding advantage than AU.
“We beat them on the boards. Our defense and our rebounding were both elite, and that was enough for us to win,” said Pearl.
The Tigers return to action next Wednesday at Georgia.
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