Auburn basketball dropped its first game of the season in a double-overtime thriller to No. 22 UConn 115-109 on Wednesday. It was the first game for both teams in this year's Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament hosted in Paradise Islands, Bahamas.
“You go to tournaments to play games like this,” said head coach Bruce Pearl. “This was like March. We competed. We came here to win. We’re disappointed. But I thought we answered the question of whether or not we were tough enough. We got punched in the mouth, and we punched back.”
With 11 minutes to go, No. 19 Auburn found itself down by 15. But behind a heroic performance by K.D Johnson and Jabari Smith, Auburn almost forced UConn to the brink of its first loss.
Johnson, in his first start, led all Auburn scorers with a career-high 27 points and hit two straight last-second shots to force the first and second overtimes. Johnson has scored in double-digits in four straight games.
Auburn had five double-digit scorers, with Johnson (27), Smith (22), Wendell Green Jr. (19), Walker Kessler (14) and Jaylin Williams (12).
Behind another Johnson layup with mere seconds remaining, Auburn tied it up again.
Johnson’s defense was intense for the entire game, with a game-high five steals. As a team, Auburn forced 24 UConn turnovers.
“I was just trying to do anything to get a W,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t really focused on anything else. I was just trying to get a win.”
Smith had a stellar game alongside Johnson, evolving his game throughout Auburn’s contest in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Smith had 22 points and was a perfect 12-12 from the free-throw stripe. Smith was also second on the team with six rebounds, behind Walker Kessler’s 10. Kessler posted his first double-double at Auburn with his 14 points and 10 boards.
In the first quarter, Auburn got out to a hot lead, behind Wendell Green Jr., who hit three shots from 3-point range. UConn quickly retaliated behind a career day from center Adama Sanogo.
Sanogo hammered Auburn inside all game, on his way to a career-high 30 points. Sanogo shot the ball 25 times, only sinking 12, but he made his presence known down-low all game.
UConn’s three-point shooting and down low presence by Sanogo proved too much for Auburn by the second overtime. UConn had two players foul-out and Sanogo had four fouls, but Auburn was unable to force the big man to the bench.
Auburn’s next contest will be tomorrow in the loser's bracket of the tournament, where it will face Loyola-Chicago at 1:30 p.m. CST. That game will be broadcast on either ESPN or ESPN2.
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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
