Coming off its first conference defeat against Florida, it looked like Auburn basketball was coming out with a vengeance against Vanderbilt.
After four lead changes and two ties, Auburn redeemed themselves leaving Nashville with an 80-68 victory over the Commodores.
Auburn is now 22-2 this season and 10-1 in SEC play.
The Tigers now prepare for their biggest game of the year, heading to Tuscaloosa for the first of two matchups against No. 2 Alabama.
“There was not going to be one ounce of looking past Vanderbilt to Saturday,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said postgame. “We haven’t talked about the game at all — we will be starting this week — because we respected Vanderbilt.”
Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s contest at Vanderbilt:
Auburn pulls away to beat Vanderbilt in Nashville 🐅 #WarEagle pic.twitter.com/oKtNoIi7hD
— Auburn Tigers | AL.com (@aldotcomTigers) February 12, 2025
Season-high first half for Auburn’s Denver Jones
After scoring two points against Florida, Denver Jones came out firing with 14 points at halftime.
Entering the contest, Jones had a season-high five made 3-pointers in a game for Auburn. He drilled four in one half as the Tigers led by as many as 15 points.
Vanderbilt closed out the half on a 15-5 run against Auburn cutting the deficit to a one score game. Despite the team-high from Jones, the Tigers shot 2-of-9 from the floor in the final 3:59 of the first half.
Chris Moore inserted in starting lineup, Auburn depth not 100%
Chris Moore got his first start Tuesday night after starting 16 games for the Tigers a season ago. Pearl reported Monday that Chad Baker-Mazara was ‘banged up’ resulting in him coming off the bench.
Mazara was not his usual self with a scoreless first half. Leading scorer Johni Broome was held to just two points in the first half shooting 1-of-6 from the floor.
In typical Broome fashion, he scored double digit points in the second half closing out with 17 points and seven rebounds. He finished 6-of-16 from the floor while still favoring his ankle throughout the game.
This was Mazara’s first scoreless game for Auburn this season. In his two years with the Tigers, he only finished with zero points scored once in the 2024 NCAA Tournament against Yale.
“He’s been limited in practice because he hasn’t gotten enough reps,” Pearl said about Mazara. “We need to get him rest and get him healthy.”
Auburn closes out another tight road contest
Vanderbilt took its first lead of the game with 17 minutes to go in the second half. The Commodores only missed one free throw and outrebounded Auburn 37-29
Chaney Johnson was doing it all for the Tigers on both sides of the court. He knocked down several big shots down the stretch scoring 16 points in the second half alone.
Johnson’s late surge gave the Tigers a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest. Johnson finished his night with 20 points as Jones added 21 points matching Auburn career high.
“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Denver Jones said postgame. “We know we have Alabama coming up…We just follow the coach’s game plan.”
All eyes will now be on the IBOB as ESPN College Gameday will host a special two-hour show live from Coleman Coliseum Saturday.
