Auburn's ugly, yet inspiring, Tennessee win
The game was far from pretty but it left plenty to get excited about.
It wasn’t pretty, but Auburn gutted out a win against a top 10 Tennessee team after trailing by two possessions with 2:07 left in a game where baskets weren’t easy to come by.
“It wasn’t pretty,” has been a theme lately, but even with Johni Broome returning from injury on Saturday night — this game ending 53-51 wasn’t a big surprise.
Saturday night was more reminiscent of the 2023 meeting in Knoxville, which Auburn lost 47-43. Wendell Green Jr.—who Tennessee probably got away with fouling to win the 2023 game—commented on how well Bruce Pearl and Rick Barnes scout and game plan against each other.
It makes sense. Pearl’s history with Tennessee, him and Barnes battling it out for the top spots in the conference fairly often, and all the close games between the two make for some high stakes, high tension games — and the history and tensions play out in just about every meeting between the two.
This time around, Auburn pivoted from its high powered offensive ways and went blow-for-blow with a defensive juggernaut. Auburn showed its championship mentality, its ability to adapt, and a lot of good in a game that will be as physical of a game as Auburn (or anyone else) will see.
There’s plenty to nitpick and critique, and I’ll get to some of that, but this is another example of Auburn finding a way to win through adversity — a trait that usually accompanies great basketball teams.
Johni Broome deserves all the praise
Johni Broome is as good as it gets for a college player, no matter who wins the National Player of the Year award or where he goes in the draft.
Broome has the ability to turn any game into his game. He favors a high scoring, high flying game, but even in the gutsy physical game against Tennessee after an ankle injury, he still found a way to be the best player in the game.
He has such a versatile and high-level skill set at his size that he’s impossible for a college team to neutralize and he can do whatever it takes to be the best player on the floor at this level.
Broome’s condition would have made a light-workload totally understandable, but instead he went out and battled a hard nosed front court for 33 minutes.
It wasn’t like Broome was just racking up the stats because no one else could. He led the team in plus/minus for most of the first half, he was drawing double teams, impacting Tennessee’s offense, defending well on switches, and leading a defensive slugfest in scoring in his condition… he was just the best player on the court even when the circumstances were stacked against him.
Broome is also surrounded by guys who have now found ways to win without him and have some added confidence from the wins they got without him. That experience will help ease Broome back into rhythm and make this team even more dangerous whether Broome is on or off the court. I think that was as evident as ever when Dylan Cardwell started the game off with several really good possessions on the way to Auburn taking an early-ish 10-5 lead.
Chaney Johnson breakout loading…
The game of Chaney Johnson can’t go unnoticed either. He was second on the team in scoring, with 10 points on only one missed shot inside the arc. Bruce Pearl mentioned Johnson having a future as a three-point shooter too… giving me flashbacks to Johni Broome’s first season at Auburn. If Johnson can do that this team can be as dangerous as any Auburn front court has ever been.
It wouldn’t just be the front court benefiting; Auburn (and teams in general) generally improve with a stretch four — with the before-and-after comparisons of Chuma Okeke’s breakout highlighting that.
If Johnson could draw defenders out of the paint, he’d open up extra room for guards and wings to drive and for Broome’s post touches.
There’s reason to believe Johnson can do it. (Johnson shot 41.7 percent from threes on 2.0 attempts per game between the Purdue and Mississippi State games.) He had more makes from distance during Jaylin Williams’ absence last season. Maybe the coaching staff realized that when comparing his production with and without Broome on the court. Maybe Pearl’s comment eludes to a fix already being in progress.
He has also shown a few faceup moves this season and an increasing ability to shutdown opposing forwards.
If he puts it all together and adds consistent three-point shooting to the mix, then Johnson could be a breakout player down the stretch. Pair the breakout with Broome getting back to full strength and in rhythm and you’ve got something special.
Tahaad Pettiford and other improvements
Tahaad Pettiford was understandably a late-game and post-game talking point among the fanbase. Not only did Pettiford make a clutch play late (what’s new?) but there were calls to have him in earlier and more often down the stretch.
I see the argument for Denver Jones and Miles Kelly. Not only did Auburn want to have a strong defender on Zakai Zeigler down the stretch, but Pearl was visibly and audibly aware and frustrated with Zeigler’s flopping. While Pettiford has improved his defense tremendously recently, he still struggles with fouls at times. Jones is not only a strong defender who provides good ball pressure and more length on Tennessee’s offensive anchor, but Jones is elite at defending without fouling and nerfed some of Zeigler’s ability there.
Still, Pettiford finished at plus-17 in a 53-51 win. Only playing 14 minutes can skew that, but the argument for more Pettiford is valid. The argument for the experienced, lengthy, defensive prowess and knock-down shooting is also a worthy one. Tennessee didn’t score for the final 2:07 of the game. Kelly also knocked down a would-be game winning three, so it’s not like Auburn doesn’t have the ability without Pettiford.
We’ve seen Auburn play the offense/defense game with Pettiford and Jones/Kelly rotations late in games. Pettiford is young and can benefit from being coached for a few on the sidelines during those swaps as well. I even remember Auburn using late-career Bryce Brown in a similar fashion, basically using a quick sub as a way to draw up something for when Brown went back in.
With the confidence and IQ Pettiford plays with, which makes him a great teammate and a great weapon off the bench, you can afford bringing him in late to close games. However, I expect that Auburn will find a way to get him more than 14 minutes in games like this moving forward.
Auburn’s ceiling
This Auburn team has a lot more room to grow than a lot of similarly experienced teams.
Like Pearl has said, almost everyone on this team has room to improve because they’re playing new roles. Additionally, the roster has been in a state of limbo more often than not in the past month-ish with Broome’s injuries, Pettiford taking over, and other guys emerging — not to mention Pearl’s hint about Johnson’s progression.
Auburn has plenty of room to improve. If they can get fully healthy and back in rhythm in time to make it happen is a different question. However, it’s January and Auburn has the recipe for success. That’s all you can ask for at this stage.
This Tennessee game also exposed Auburn in a few ways, with Pettiford’s lack of minutes and the shooting struggles from deep if nothing else. Auburn has a better idea of how to improve and has the pieces needed to do it.
So often you see the greatest teams in March and April being the ones who can adapt and keep any game close long enough for its best players to take over. Auburn did just that against Tennessee, and Auburn has guys like Broome, Chad Baker-Mazara, Kelly, Jones, and others capable of taking things over. This team’s ceiling is high and still in reach, and I have a feeling we’ll see more glimpses of it as Broome ramps things up and the rest of the team shows off what they learned without him.
Jay - what are your thoughts on Howard?