Auburn basketball officially got underway on Tuesday night with Morehead State in Auburn Arena. Unlike the exhibition on Friday, it was not a sluggish, out-of-place Auburn team. Instead, it was a team that looked fired up and ready to roll.
The Tigers surged out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back from there, taking down Morehead State 77-54.
This is a Bruce Pearl team
Auburn's 2020 basketball team didn't resemble a Bruce Pearl basketball team. The defense was not strong. The guards got beat off the dribble and the bigs didn't have a strong grasp of the paint. The threes weren't firing off at their usual rate nor were they falling at their usual rate.
But this year's team is a Bruce Pearl team. It's a team that makes a living off its smothering defense. The guards — led by Zep Jasper and K.D. Johnson — rarely let anyone get by.
"Our guard's defense is — they’re a bunch of pests out there and they're so scrappy," center Walker Kessler said.
And then in a rare occurrence that a guard gets past Auburn's guards, Kessler, Jabari Smith or Dylan Cardwell send them packing in the paint.
"Our guards do a good job of trusting the big men in the back knowing that if they do happen to get beat because they’re too aggressive, we’ll clean it up," Kessler said.
This year's team has dogs. Dudes that can go out and make an impact at all times on the court and that's what Pearl wants.
Going to have to work on keeping the foot on the pedal
All of a sudden in the second half Morehead State had worked its way back into the game and trailed by just 14 after leading by nearly 30 in the first half.
It's always an issue for new teams and especially young teams so it makes sense that Auburn got that lesson on Tuesday: You have to keep your foot on the pedal.
After the game Pearl credited the second half lull to fatigue and that's fair.
But it's something Auburn will have to improve upon moving forward.
Auburn needs to feed the post more
Feeding the post was a problem in the summer. It's something that was worked on extensively in practice. Which, when you have Walker Kessler, Jabari Smith and Dylan Cardwell who can all play inside, it makes sense why Auburn would want to do it.
Simply getting the ball into the post was a bit of an issue during the exhibition game. That seemed to have improved on Tuesday but will still need work as the season goes on.
The main takeaway from Tuesday, though, was Auburn needs to feed the post more. Morehead State didn't have the size or strength or keep up with Auburn's big men.
Feed them down there. Take advantage of the mismatches more.
Bonus: Homecourt advantage is back... and helps Auburn a lot
With COVID restrictions lifted Auburn Arena and the Jungle is back to full capacity. And that's going to play a big part for Auburn this year.
This is a team with playmakers that will feed off that energy. They did that Tuesday. Whether it's K.D. Johnson, Wendell Green Jr., Jabari Smith, Dylan Cardwell, Devan Cambridge or someone else on the team, this group loves to get hyped up.
They want the crowd to get into it and get loud and they'll do just that this year.
"It was like nothing I ever played in front of before, you know? It was electric, you know? Just, every time somebody scored, couldn't really hear out there," Green said. "But it was fun, and the support is crazy here."
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