On Tuesday night, some things were different about Auburn Arena from last season.
The Jungle was full once more, blocked off seats were non-existent and new faces stole the show in Auburn’s 77-54 opening-night win over Morehead State.
“That’s the best we’ve played in three weeks,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl.
Auburn’s starting lineup consisted of one returning Tiger, three transfers and a highly-rated freshman talent. The impact made on the court by transfers Wendell Green Jr. and Walker Kessler was immediate.
The first 3-point shot of the season was hit by Green, who was Auburn’s leading scorer on Tuesday. Running the offense as the point guard, Green’s 11-point first half performance helped excel the Tigers to a dominant first 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, Kessler was causing all sorts of issues for Morehead State’s offense down in the paint. Listed at 7-foot-1, Kessler led the Tigers in blocked shots with five and rebounds with six.
“Well, my height helps,” Kessler said about his defense. “I’ve always had a knack about it and timing, and my length allows me not to really commit so much to a shot where I can’t recover.”
He also added six points, several of which came off of tip-ins or second-effort shots. Nearly half of Auburn’s points came in the paint, scoring 38 of its 77 points down low.
Freshman Jabari Smith had eight points in his collegiate debut and led the team in steals with three.
Auburn had three other players score in double digits. Devan Cambridge, Jaylin Williams and another transfer, K.D. Johnson, all had double-digit points.
Only Cambridge was in the starting lineup. Williams and Johnson came off the bench, which as a whole totaled 32 points. It’s a testament to the depth of Auburn, which played 15 players by the time the final buzzer sounded.
The Tigers opened on an 11-0 run against Morehead State, continuing a 22-0 run to finish their exhibition match against Southern Indiana last Friday. It was the early defense that was a difference maker and put Auburn out to an unexpected start.
“We didn’t expect to go up 30 from the beginning,” Green said.
The Eagles didn’t score from the field until nearly seven minutes had passed, at which point it was already 13-4 in favor of Auburn. That lead only grew, as Auburn went on a 27-7 run over the next 8:28 to lead 40-11 at one point.
“The first 15 minutes of the game, that was as good a defensive effort as we’ve had in a while,” Pearl said.
Morehead State made adjustments and closed the half well, but Auburn took a 44-24 point into the locker rooms.
The run continued into the second half, with the Eagles cutting the lead to 14 at one point, but that was the closest they came. The Tigers were aware of the dangers of letting a team like Morehead State, who made the NCAA Tournament as a 14-seed last season, back into the game.
A timeout was called, allowing Zep Jasper, Smith and Kessler to check in and the lead was pushed back out again.
“We knew that they were going to keep fighting, that’s what Morehead does,” Green said. “They were a tournament team last year. We expected it to be a good game, so when it was 14, that’s what we expected. That’s what we got our minds ready for, pregame. We knew what we had to do.”
The Tigers shut the Eagles down and never looked back.
Auburn is back in action on Friday, hosting UL Monroe at 7 p.m. CST.
“I think we can be great,” Green said. “One of the best teams in the nation.”
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Originally from Helena, Ala., Caleb Jones is a senior studying journalism at Auburn University. He has been on staff with The Plainsman since 2019.
You can follow him here on Twitter: @calebjsports
