Auburn basketball handled North Alabama 102-69 in the final game before the Maui Invitational.
The Auburn Tigers took care of business and looked good while doing it. After a slow start with the North Alabama Lions within one score multiple times, the Tigers pulled away after outscoring the Lions 52-32 in the second half.
Takeaway #1: Johni Broome
Johni Broome did not score a point in the first half until the 7:34 mark in the first half. Broome ended the half with 17 points.
“I walk into every game looking to take over,” Broome said, “and put my stamp on the game. Today it was scoring and rebounding. I thought my team needed it in those moments, so I did it.”
The arguably best player in the country finished the day with 30 points, 17 rebounds, and three blocks.
Auburn basketball will have a tough stretch of games before beginning conference play. If Broome plays to the All-American level at which he was selected, he will cause problems not only in Maui but also many opponents for the rest of the season.
Takeaway #2: Unselfish basketball
North Alabama had five assists against Auburn, while the Tigers had nine players record an assist. Denver Jones’s nine assists led the team to 25 assists against the Lions.
“I was able to find guys, find shooters,” said Jones, who added minutes at point guard this season after primarily playing shooting guard a year ago. “It’s been a little bit of an adjustment, working all summer. Coach Ira Bowman always stresses being aggressive like I’m playing off ball. Continue to look for your shot, and everything else will take care of itself.”
Takeaway #3: Lack of depth?
While Jahki Howard and Ja’Heim Hudson were made available for this game for the first time since the Houston incident earlier in the season, neither touched the floor against the Lions.
Auburn got 23 points from its bench, and 5 of them came from walk-ons during the game’s final few minutes.
This would be a more significant concern without strong contributions from Chaney Johnson and Taahad Pettiford. Still, the lack of production from JP Pegues and Chris Moore calls into question a problem that has never occurred under head coach Bruce Pearl.
Next up for Auburn (4-0): vs. Iowa State (2-0) – Nov. 25 at 9 p.m. EST
Next up for North Alabama (3-2): vs. ULM (2-4) on Nov. 23 at 5 p.m. EST