Auburn wins, 93-78.
Auburn now is 12-3 overall, 1-1 in the league.
AUBURN BY THE NUMBERS
2FG: 22-of-38 (58%)
3FG: 12-of-25 (48%)
FT: 13-of-17 (77%)
Auburn won the rebounding battle, 39-33.
Auburn is 9-1 this season when grabbing more rebounds.
GEORGIA BY THE NUMBERS
2FG: 15-of-29 (52%)
3FG: 11-of-29 (38%)
FT: 15-of-20 (75%)
MY AUBURN PLAYER OF THE GAME
F Anfernee McLemore: 15 points (7-of-10 shooting), 9 rebounds, 2 blocks
FROM THE GEORGIA SIDE
"The biggest thing where we made mistakes wasn't so much the threes; it was our shoulders. When you open up your body, you give them a shoulder to attack you, they're really good." — UGA coach Tom Crean
FROM THE AUBURN SIDE
• Huge, potentially season-changing performance today from F Anfernee McLemore. The junior finished with 15 points, his highest total since November, plus nine rebounds and a pair of blocks. Not to mention a handful of shots he altered. McLemore was such a critical component of Auburn's regular-season run last year, but it's been a slow process of acclimation this season. His problem, at least from my perspective, has been a lack of tenacity. He's in no way lazy; he's simply struggled to assert himself physically the way he did last winter. I saw some of that tenacity today. For what it's worth, McLemore said he was "bouncy" and felt great — seemingly playing down any kind of mental adjustment. Bruce Pearl said afterward that having McLemore playing at this level changes the complexion of Auburn's season. I concur. Now it's a matter of replicating it against better teams.
• Auburn was tougher today than it was at Ole Miss on Wednesday. Georgia is a reasonably physical team that struggles because it doesn't have a point guard. This isn't a soft team. In that sense, it's important that the Tigers rose to that physical challenge and emerged victorious. The coaching staff made it clear Thursday and Friday that someone, actually a few someones, needed to harden the heck up. The easy solution was to give the team's biggest roughnecks, G/F Malik Dunbar and F Horace Spencer, more minutes and more chances to knock skulls. Dunbar made the most of his (normal) 14 minutes. Spencer was extremely active during his 18-minute tour. Did they set a tone? Was a new tone set in practice? This is still to be determined, but those two enforcers are worth every second they earn on the court.
• We've come to the point in this season when I stop trying to make sense out of the Pearl-Harper dynamic and just let it unfold as it unfolds. I watch PG Jared Harper and think that he has a long way to go in terms of diagnosing defenses, slowing his team's pace when it's absurdly hot, running plays to ensure C Austin Wiley and PF Chuma Okeke get useful, actionable looks in the post. You think a patient possession is required — and then he opens the (zero-pass) possession with a 25-foot shot. He hits at least his fair share of these shots, of course, and maybe that's why Pearl doesn't lose his mind. It's clear to everyone now that Pearl has quit trying to shape Harper's style, so to speak, and instead gives him almost full creative license. To the rational basketball fan, Harper is a source of much frustration. Then again, he scored 22 points against Georgia (on 6-of-15 shooting) and committed one turnover in 35 minutes. I don't understand how he manages to walk this high wire every night and not fall into the abyss, but it's time that I stop trying to make sense of it. Harper plays this way. He's always going to play this way. And he's usually one of the two or three best players on the floor.
• Auburn put together a terrific scoring performance Saturday. There is no way to kvetch over 93 points on 50-percent shooting. Yet those impressive numbers mask some truly atrocious defensive lapses. The Tigers conceded at least five easy buckets against Georgia by failing to switch on a perimeter screen. It's among the most elementary defensive concepts and Auburn, at least in certain situations, makes a mess of it. It's my belief that the team enters every game with a scoring mentality, so defensive possessions are spent plotting the next scoring possession rather than executing the defensive plan. The Tigers weren't good about getting eyes on the ball on defense at Ole Miss. The Tigers also weren't very good about that Saturday. Those mistakes aren't game-breakers against Georgia at home, you know? When it's Tennessee inside Auburn Arena or when it's a game at Texas A&M, like we'll see next week, these kinds of defensive mistakes will take a bigger toll.
• Auburn resumes play Wednesday at Texas A&M. That game is scheduled to tip at 6 p.m. CST and will be televised by ESPNU.
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