Emphasis on defense pays off
AUBURN | Bruce Pearl was concerned about his defense through Auburn’s first two games, especially in the second half.
The Tigers allowed 54 second-half points in an 88-82 loss to Baylor in the opener and then 43 in an 86-71 win over Southeastern Louisiana.
It was an emphasis in practice leading up to Auburn’s two games in Brooklyn, N.Y.. And the players responded.
The Tigers beat Notre Dame 83-59 in the opener and St. Bonaventure 77-60 to win their second Legends Classic championship in the last five years.
“BP is very strict. He’s hard on us a lot,” said center Johni Broome, who was MVP of the tournament averaging 16.5 points and 5.5 rebounds. “But everybody on the team tries to please him. That’s what we try to do, make him happy. He’s going to still get on us about our defense and our rotations.
“But 59 and 60 points, I think it’s good, holding two elite teams. We’re trying to get better each and every day and everybody on our team is giving extra effort to try and hold teams to under a certain number.”
Against the Bonnies, Pearl started a true freshman, Aden Holloway, at point guard and a transfer, Denver Jones at the two guard. Two more transfers, Chad Baker-Mazara and Chaney Johnson, are key players off the bench.
With that many newcomers adjusting to Pearl’s demands on defense, there can be some growing pains.
“Really satisfied, really pleased,” said Pearl. “Made a lot of progress the last two weeks, probably since the second half against Baylor, and that probably sticks in our craw a little bit still and the guys recognized it. What we do can work really well with great effort and energy, and they flew around and had fun.
“The last few minutes of the first half was pretty exciting basketball, and you don't always get on runs like that, but obviously we took control of the game.”
Auburn, which improved to 3-1 on the season, returns home to host Alabama A&M Tuesday night before taking off a week for Thanksgiving. Tip-off at Neville Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on SECN+/ESPN+.
“We got two great wins in our non-conference coming up here and winning this,” said Broome. “It gives us confidence. We got another game before Thanksgiving break. And then we come back after Thanksgiving break to try to keep momentum going. Just kinda keep it going game by game, try to get better and fix our errors.”