The No. 1 Auburn Tigers defeated the Georgia Bulldogs 82-70 on Saturday afternoon, and head coach Bruce Pearl was uninterested in a lot of coachspeak.
The Auburn Tigers defeated the Georgia Bulldogs 82-70, appearing to be a comfortable victory. It was anything but, as the Bulldogs kept the game within five points with two minutes remaining.
Johni Broome, Auburn’s player of the year candidate, carried the squad with a game- and season-high 31 points. Broome missed the first game in Athens in January, but made up for it on Saturday.
“Well Johni, it’s why he’s player of the year,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl after the game.
“Unbelievable poise. He plays at a great pace offensively and the fact that he’s patient, calculating , the fact that he attacked the rim like he did in this game so much.”
Broome also led both teams with 14 rebounds. No one else had more than five.
When calculating the ultimate key for the Tigers beating the Bulldogs for the 13th time in 16 tries, Pearl kept it excedingly simple.
“That was the biggest difference at the end of the day. We had 4 and they didn’t,” Pearl said of Broome who wears number four for the Tigers. “4 played pretty good tonight.”
Broome may have been the ultimate difference in the game, but clutch free throw shooting helped put it on ice.
“We made our free throws,” said Pearl on the final minutes. “To have four guards out there like Tahaad Pettiford, and Denver (Jones), Miles (Kelly), and Chad Baker who are great free throw shooters, it’s a great way to close out the game.”
The four guards combined for a perfect 15 of 15 from the line.
It wasn’t the only time Pearl would heap praise on his team and deflect any attention from himself. The Tigers outrebounded the Bulldogs 40-35 and had a plus-five advantage on the offensive glass. Broome had six of Auburn’s 17 offensive boards.
Pearl said that was part of the Tigers’ plan, and he made it sound simple.
“In the framework of our offense, we have backside rebounding built in,” said Pearl. “When you got Dylan (Cardwell) on the backside rebounding, and you got Johni with the ball in the post, and you put three shooters out there, a kindergartner could figure out how to score with those guys.”
Obviously, there is more nuance to Auburn’s game than just throwing it at Broome and getting out of his way, but that strategy worked for the Tigers on Saturday.
Auburn visits No. 24 Ole Miss on Wednesday, following two home games against unranked Georgia and Oklahoma. The Rebels fell 77-72 at Vanderbilt on Saturday and may not be ranked with they meet Auburn.
After that, the Tigers will travel to face No. 17 Kentucky and No. 7 Texas A&M before hosting No. 4 Alabama in the regular-season finale. On Saturday, the Crimson Tide trounced Kentucky 96-83, while the Aggies lost at home to the No. 6 Tennessee Vols 77-69.
