Aggressive defense and hot shooting carried the Auburn basketball team to a second consecutive exhibition victory Friday, easily beating Paine College 99-64 in the Auburn Arena.
"We're sharing the ball and we're playing for each other, and that's just popping off the court as I'm watching," said head coach Tony Barbee.
Auburn got off to a quick start, with juniors Chris Griffin and KT Harrell both knocking down three pointers in the opening two minutes.
The Tigers' zone defense was disruptive in the first half, forcing 12 turnovers and holding the Lions to just 33 percent shooting.
Barbee stressed the Tigers were looking to increase the tempo of the game by utilizing a more aggressive and pressuring defense.
"The man is our staple, it's our identity and who we are, but it wasn't very good tonight," Barbee said. "When we need to change tempo and pace, we have a couple zones that we can go to. You can run out of any of the zones we're in because we're already set."
Auburn shot 50 percent from behind the arc in the first half and stretched its lead to 21 points at the break.
Point guard Tahj Shamsid-Deen came up favoring his left wrist after taking a hard fall near the end of the first half.
The freshman shook off the injury and started the second half, scoring 11 points and adding seven assists on the night.
Senior guard Chris Denson had 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting for the game, while Harrell contributed 25 points and three assists.
Barbee had high praise for Denson after the game, specifically mentioning his work ethic and intangibles off the court.
"He's finally starting to understand the impact of, not just his scoring, but the leadership things that he is doing," Barbee said. "The way he penetrates and with the way he is shooting it now, I don't know how you guard him."
Auburn's hot shooting continued into the second half, where the Tigers posted a 60 percent shooting percentage.
A rim rattling alley-oop from Shamsid-Deen to senior Asauhn Dixon-Tatum in the middle of the second half stretched the Tigers' lead to 30 points.
"Me and Tahj just have that point guard and center connection, so you know it's 'Lob City,'" Dixon-Tatum said.
Despite a height advantage in the paint, the Tigers struggled to rebound on the defensive glass, allowing the Lions to pull down 20 offensive rebounds.
"That was glaring tonight as a weakness," Barbee said. "We talked about it and we'll work on it in practice this week as we get ready for the real thing."
The Tigers next game is against Nicholls State on Friday, Nov. 8th.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Auburn Arena.
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