Auburn basketball ‘did not play our A-game’ against No. 9 Duke. Where can it improve?

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DURHAM, N.C. — One of the oldest teams in college hoops, No. 2 Auburn basketball’s experience couldn’t save it from what No. 9 Duke drew up Wednesday evening at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

A bunch of Blue Devils, with three blue-chip freshmen in their starting lineup, used their length and nation-leading defensive efficiency to put Auburn’s biggest strengths as a team at a standstill. It led to the Tigers’ first loss; a 84-78 defeat.

The individual performances still arrived. Both Johni Broome and Tahaad Pettiford caught fire down the stretch, with Broome notching another double-double and both players scoring 20 points apiece. Chad Baker-Mazara muscled his way into a 17-point night, and after a hot start, Miles Kelly scored 14.

But as a team, Duke had Auburn beat. Offensively, it put together one of its best performances of the year, and a physical-but-effective Bruce Pearl defense couldn’t find the answers. The Tigers were hard-pressed to get stops anywhere on the floor, unable to overwhelm the defensive glass and simultaneously let the Blue Devils get out in transition.

Following the loss, Pearl shared his pregame message for his team. It was both a fitting summation of where the Tigers fell flat and where they’ll need to go from here.

“Everybody expects Duke to get a lot better, because they’re so young — and I think they will,” Pearl said. “But nobody expects our team to get better, because we’re older. But I’ve got a lot of older guys that are playing a lot of new roles.

“Chaney (Johnson) was in Division II a year ago. Dylan Cardwell has never started a game, really, at Auburn. He’s starting now. Denver Jones has never played point guard. He’s starting at point guard. We have a lot of new pieces, too.”

Until Wednesday, those pieces had shown up for the Tigers. Jones had been averaging a double-digit scoring line. Johnson was in the same boat. And Cardwell was coming off a career-best performance against Memphis. But falling back to earth on Tobacco Road — with a chance…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/auburn-basketball-did-not-play-142949282.html

Author : The Montgomery Advertiser

Publish date : 2024-12-05 14:29:00

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