It wasn't the prettiest first half for Auburn but a 46-point second half helped the Tigers cruise to an 85-68 win over UCF on Wednesday.
Takeaways from the game:
This team can get hot quick, fast and in a hurry
With the amount of different playmakers on this team, it's becoming quickly evident how streaky this team can be — in a good way.
Wendell Green, Jabari Smith and K.D. Johnson have all shown this year their ability to takeover and dominate a game. Then you also have someone like Devan Cambridge, who's been cold to start this year, but has shown takeover ability in games before.
When this team needs a scoring surge, there's no shortage of players to take up that mantle.
Recently, and probably most often this year that'll be Smith, but the options are plentiful for Bruce Pearl and Auburn.
Second half defense won Auburn this game
UCF went over eight minutes without scoring a field goal in the second half. Some of that came from poor shooting, but a lot of that can be attributed to a strong Auburn defense.
"I just thought we wore them down defensively," Pearl said.
Pearl credited Auburn's depth a lot for Auburn's strong defensive performance. And that will be the case a lot this season for this team. Pearl usually plays 10 right now, but still has Stretch Akingbola if need be and Allen Flanigan will return soon to bolster the depth even more.
The defense was the key for Auburn in this game, and that'll happen many more times this year.
Credit to Lior Berman
Credit where it's due to walk-on Lior Berman, who's not only cracked the rotation, but he's found a good role in it.
Berman started to pick up some steam in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament and that continued on Wednesday as he finished the night with six points and two rebounds, going +19 in 14 minutes of game time.
He's continuing to earn an expanded role on this team and in the rotation, even with Flanigan on the verge of returning.
"I thought once again Lior Berman came in and gave us great minutes," Pearl said. "He plays with a lot of confidence. He plays with toughness and physicality. And that's something that we definitely could use — it would be a nice, nice piece. I could see him continuing to play more."
