Tigers earn key road win

Bruce Pearl keeps asking for his team to get exposed. His players just keep winning.

No. 24 Auburn improved to 2-0 on the season Friday night with a 76-66 win over Davidson in the Veterans Classic at Alumni Hall in Annapolis, Md.

Defense made the difference for the Tigers as they held Jon Axel Gudmundsson, last year’s Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, to seven points on 2 of 7 shooting, and all-conference standout Kellan Grady to six points. The Wildcats shot just 18 of 55 (33 percent) from the floor.

"A win against a top 30 or so team at a neutral site, a 10-point win, that's huge. That's a big number for us. It'll be great for our RPI," Pearl told the Auburn Network. "We talked about the fact that our backcourt can be one of the better defensive backcourts in the league, and I don't think those two guards, 3 and 31, have been held to single digits, both of them in a game, in their career."

The Tigers broke open a close game with a 12-1 run at the start of the second half. Freshman Isaac Okoro led Auburn with a career-high 16 points. Four other Tigers finished in double figures including Danjel Purifoy with 14, Anfernee McLemore 12, J’Von McCormick 11 and Samir Doughty 11.

McCormick added five rebounds and five assists and McLemore five rebounds and three blocked shots. Austin Wiley had five points and 10 rebounds.

Auburn shot just 6 of 24 (25 percent) from 3-point range — Doughty and McCormick were a combined 0 of 9 — but out-scored Davidson 30-12 with points in paint.

Auburn returns to action at South Alabama Tuesday night at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN+.