No. 22 Auburn overcame a sloppy and sluggish first half, to dominate the University of Louisiana-Monroe in the second half, besting the visitors 93-65.
The Tigers were led in all aspects of the game by freshman Jabari Smith, transfer K.D. Johnson, and sophomore Chris Moore.
Smith led all scorers with 23 points and Johnson was second in the game with 18.
In only his second game at Auburn, Smith tallied a double-double, grabbing 10 boards along with 2 blocks and 4 steals.
“He is special. He is going to keep getting better,” said head coach Bruce Pearl.
Johnson was hot again Friday from beyond the arc, hitting 4-of-5 from three.
"He is productive. He is talented. He is unselfish. He is not afraid of the moment,” Pearl said.
It took Auburn quite a while to get those numbers up however. Going into halftime, Auburn was trailing the mid-major Warhawks 39-37, a team that lost to LSU by 62 on Tuesday.
Auburn was in foul trouble all over, couldn’t buy a basket and center Walker Kessler was being beaten down low by much smaller centers.
Kessler had only two points and three blocks on the night. The UNC transfer found himself getting dunked on and blocked at the rim through the course of the game.
“People are going to look at the final score and think we blew them out,” Pearl said. “We didn't. Louisiana-Monroe outplayed us in the first half."
In the second half, Auburn put the ball on the perimeter with Johnson and used the likes of Smith and Chris Moore to drive and draw fouls for all 20 minutes.
Moore had a stellar night off the bench, with a career-high 16 points and 4 boards. He was a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line, which helped ignite Auburn’s 56-26 outscoring of ULM in the second half.
Moore was all smiles postgame.
"It means a lot,” Moore said. “I've gotta humble myself, but it means a lot. I gotta play like that every game.”
But it was Jabari Smith who took the mantle of scorer and defender and was a magician with the basketball, proving to the packed Auburn Arena crowd why he is a projected top NBA lottery pick.
With under 12 minutes to play, Smith grabbed a rebound at the opposite end of the floor. What followed was NBA level.
He took the ball up the court and made a defender miss at the half-court line by putting the ball behind is back. Smith kept his run going and took two steps and jumped clean over and through the Warhawk defense for a layup.
"When I got it, it was natural to me,” Smith said. “I just went behind my back and I went and finished. I shoulda dunked it."
"We get turnt, we get lit when we see highlight plays like that,” Moore said.
While much of the game was not pretty, Auburn found a way to win a game without using Kessler’s immense size or solely relying on Wendell Green Jr. to make plays from the perimeter.
Auburn found rebounding from Green, who was tied for second on the team with seven and late ball handling by Zep Jasper to help push the team by the Warhawks. Jasper quietly led the team in plus-minus with +29 and a team-high six assists.
Auburn (2-0) will travel to the University of South Florida next for a contest with the Bulls on Nov. 19.
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Henry Zimmer is from Jacksonville, Florida, and is currently in his fifth year with The Plainsman. He is currently the Sports Reporter and can be followed on Twitter here: @henryzimmer
