Auburn excites in game one beatdown
Auburn had no problem with Vermont, taking down the Catamounts 94-43 in the Tigers’ first regular season game of the season.
The game started slow, but a few strong individual performances and a bunch of threes had Auburn cruising to a 46-21 halftime lead without having to diverge from its vanilla offense or show off too much before the Houston game.
Vermont was coming off a road win against UAB and is projected to be a much better team than the score of the Auburn beatdown indicates. Vermont has three consecutive conference championships and NCAA Tournament bids and returned most of its team from last season, but Auburn didn’t have to do much more than flex its talent to win by 51.
The win moved Auburn up to No. 2 in KenPom, giving the Tigers a chance at No. 1 versus No. 2 showdown with Houston on Saturday.
Auburn got just about whatever it wanted, and we saw some debuts, so there was plenty to get excited about — even if all of my boxes didn’t get checked.
Individual performances shined
I won’t go too deep into the Miles Kelly explosion, assuming everyone has seen the highlights. If you haven’t, watch them immediately. The seven threes tied last season’s single-game high (set by Denver Jones) and tied Kelly’s career high.
It’s game one, but the bullish predictions for Kelly are playing out before us. He looks confident and capable at Auburn, and his role let him be as efficient and effective as he has ever been.
Talking about Tahaad
Tahaad Pettiford had a much quieter game than I—and I think most Auburn fans—expected. But, he had a couple of would-be baskets erased by questionable calls, a few good assists, made winning plays, and had some insane dribble moves. In other words, he’ll be fine. His athleticism and motor looked great, and he was knocking down shots against FAU.
Not only did his athleticism and handle look promising, but Pettiford didn’t push it and got all the dirty work done. He still looked for him teammates, played defense, and rebounded even when his shot wasn’t falling. All he needed were a couple of shots to fall and he’d be on all the highlight pages instead of having his game questioned. I have a good feeling that’ll happen soon.
It’s also worth noting that Pettiford ran with the first unit off the bench at point guard, with Kelly at shooting guard, Chad Baker-Mazara/Jakhi Howard on the wing, Chaney Johnson at the four, and Broome at the five for his first minutes of both halves. Pettiford would go on to play some shooting guard, even voluntarily giving the lead guard role to JP Pegues down the stretch.
Probably my favorite play of the game from Pettiford was when he got a steal at mid-court and—with no defenders in front of him—and gave the ball up Broome for a quick dunk. Even while struggling to score in his debut, Pettiford was still making smart and winning plays.
Jahki Howard just getting started
Am I the only one who feels like Howard is about to have one of those seasons where he’s making plays with his athleticism and motor, even if he needs another offseason to reach his ceiling?
Howard’s man defense needs to get a little better before I can see Bruce Pearl truly opening the doors to hefty minutes for Howard, but it’s giving me flashbacks to Devan Cambridge’s freshman season (the good times!) but with Howard having a higher season.
Howard has the potential to be a good defender right away, with his size and athleticism on the wing. Vermont started attacking him in the second half, and Howard wound up holding his own several times.
He also passed up a couple of good looks from three, and he has the ability to make those and play good defense.
Another promising outing could mean Auburn is getting another freshman breakout candidate on the squad a little earlier than expected.
Auburn’s forwards are still a bright spot
Johnson showed some major improvements in year two. He looked nearly unstoppable within about 10 feet of the basket. Johnson had some offense drawn up for him, where his burst let him create a lot of space around screens, and nailed a few floaters. He also called for some isolation plays and scored on some back downs in the post. His touch on floaters looked great, drawing Jaylin Williams comparisons with it and his efficiency.
Broome also played some at the four, which is a boost to the position when Dylan Cardwell is playing well. Even Ja’Heim Hudson looks capable of giving some solid minutes. But I’m interested to see if the two bigs stay in the starting five. Especially with Kelly looking like a pro.
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I’m going to watch a replay of Houston’s opening game and breakdown how I think the two teams compare. That’ll hit subscribers’ inboxes tomorrow.