Austin Wiley had a career-high 15 rebounds and the Tigers shook off a cold shooting start to claim a 74-51 victory over Lehigh on Saturday night.
The senior center had a double-double, accounting for 14 points and recording 15 rebounds. Wiley was also perfect from the free-throw line, shooting 8-for-8 from the charity stripe. Wiley continues to show improvement at the free-throw line from last season, where he shot 51.7%. This season, Wiley is shooting 64.3%.
Auburn’s offense began slow, scoring 27 points in the first half, a season low. Auburn only had 13 points in the first 14 minutes of the game, and found itself down 20-13 with 5:54 remaining in the first half.
Samir Doughty then hit a 3-point shot from the corner, ending an 0-for-10 start for the Tigers from beyond the arc. Doughty’s three sparked what would be a 14-0 run for the Tigers to end the half. Auburn took a 27-20 lead into the locker room.
The second half belonged to J’Von McCormick, who scored 13 points in the half. McCormick went on a 9-0 run against the Mountain Hawks, knocking down a 3-point shot on three consecutive possessions for the Tigers.
“I just felt like I couldn’t miss,” McCormick said. “After I shot the first one and I made it, I got the ball in transition, I already knew I was going to shoot it, and my teammates knew it, so I just shot it and it went in.”
McCormick also had an assist on what was a crowd-energizing dunk, an off-the-backboard slam by freshman Devan Cambridge. In 29 minutes, McCormick committed no turnovers and ended the night with 18 points and four assists.
The Tigers outscored the Mountain Hawks 47-31 in the second half.
Doughty addressed the attention to defense that the team has paid this season following the NC State game on Thursday. Saturday night was no different. Auburn held Lehigh to 20 points in the first half, a season-low for the Tigers defense, and 51 total points, also a season low. For head coach Bruce Pearl, “Defense was again the difference.”
“Our coaches do an outstanding job with game planning," Pearl said. "We’ve got a pretty good ability to affect the outcome of games. We kind of wore them down a little bit."
Auburn was able to generate offense from defense. It had 17 points from fast breaks and totaled 30 points off of 19 Lehigh turnovers.
“To create some offense from our defense is our biggest opportunity to win games,” Pearl said.
Auburn, now 11-0, will face Lipscomb on Dec. 29 before traveling to Mississippi State to begin SEC play. The game against Lipscomb will be at 3 p.m. CST and the game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
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