Coming off a third-place finish at the Maui Invitational, No. 8 Auburn did not skip a beat in its first game back on The Plains, dominating the Saint Peter's Peacocks, 99-49.
Anfernee McLemore led the way for the Tiger offense, tying a career-high with 19 points and shooting 3-for-5 from 3-point range. The performance from outside has been something McLemore has worked on in the offseason, but had not yet sustained until Wednesday night.
“We’ve been in the gym putting up a little bit of extra shots after practice and just working with the coaches trying to get that perimeter game down,” McLemore said.
Senior guard Bryce Brown continued his hot streak, adding 19 after knocking down seven of his 11 shots on the night, including 3 of 6 from downtown.
Bench scoring added a big spark for Auburn, adding 41 points, mostly led by Austin Wiley and Malik Dunbar.
Wiley dominated the much smaller Saint Peter’s frontcourt with 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. The latter two statistics tied a season-high for Wiley.
“I feel like I did not rebound that well in Maui and [struggled to] defend ball screens and so those were the two things I mainly focused on in practice,” Wiley said.
Dunbar was 4-of-6 from behind the arc with 14 points for his second straight double-digit performance off the bench.
“[Dunbar] gives some of everything,” McLemore said. “He brings personality to the table, intensity, he’s always going to play hard, he’s always going to be aggressive and he’s a guy we can feed off of when we need energy.”
“I think he looks really comfortable offensively,” head coach Bruce Pearl said of Dunbar. “Malik is a really good shooter, he’s got a beautiful ball. Every time he shoots it, you think it is going in. He’s got great ball flight, you got to guard him out there, which opens the lane up.”
Dunbar opened up a lot of open shots for teammates in tonight’s win, which is something he has improved on from last season.
“Last year, his assist to turnover ratio wasn’t very good,” Pearl said. “It has been much better this year, I don’t think he is forcing the issue at all, he’s improved defensively, he’s a leader in the locker room and so it’s very positive to see him put up good numbers. “
Pearl tried a few different lineups against Saint Peter’s after point guard J’Von McCormick “tweaked” his ankle. Most notably, starting small forward Samir Doughty took over point guard responsibilities – a position he played in high school.
Doughty stepped into the role easily with six rebounds, five assists and a team-high plus/minus of 45.
Auburn’s defense smothered the out-gunned Peacocks, forcing 26 turnovers and holding them to 26.9 percent shooting on 52 shots.
The Tigers looks to continue their early-season dominance next week as they host UNC Asheville next Tuesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. CST.
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