Auburn bounced back, and did so in dominating fashion.
The Tigers followed their road loss to Little Rock with a 91-42 routing of Charleston Southern on Friday, behind a pair of career-best performances from guards Aicha Coulibaly and Annie Hughes.
“I thought it was a good win,” said Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris. “We wanted to start out imposing our will. We wanted to be tough, physical and aggressive both on the offensive and defensive end. I thought our kids came out and did that.”
Coulibaly got the show started for Auburn, quickly getting on the board by scoring the first three points. It only continued in the first quarter, as Coulibaly scored 10 of the first 14 points of the game, within five minutes after tip-off.
“Aicha’s ceiling is so high,” Harris said. “She’s athletic, she’s really, really, aggressive and sometimes she gets going too fast and she misses those chippies. If she had made her chippies in her free throws, she would’ve had 40 points.”
By the time the final buzzer sounded, Coulibaly had shattered her previous career-high of 17 points against Old Dominion, earlier this season, with 27 points on Sunday.
Hughes also contributed to the first 90-point performance by an Auburn team in nearly a year, with her career-high of 21 points. The junior was most lethal from beyond the arc, knocking down 5-of-7 shots from 3-point range, also a career-most.
“I’m not scared to go to her, she knows she has the green light. Her shots came within the offense so I’m really pleased when she takes the good shot and I really believe all of her shots are really going to go in.
While the duo of guards carried the weight of the offense, it was a total team effort against the Buccaneers. All active members of the roster not only checked into the game, but scored in the contest. The 30-point performance from the bench doubled the season’s previous high.
It’s a step in the right direction for a team that’s lacked depth and extended experience beyond the starting five this season.
“It’s special,” Harris said. “I told that last group that was in there that you always have an opportunity. So when we’re in practice everyday and we do our little drills that help prepare you, they need to take it serious. As serious as the starters, because when your number is called you have to be ready. And I thought they were ready.”
Following the Little Rock loss, Harris spoke about her team’s lack of focus and ability to share the ball. The Tigers recorded just seven assists in the Little Rock loss and was a key area of focus this week in practice.
Auburn got the message.
The 21 assists recorded against Charleston Southern surpassed the previous season-high of 17 set against Alabama State. Honesty Scott-Grayson, who has been one of Auburn’s leading scorers this season, led the team with six.
“Everybody has to be that unselfish,” Harris said. “When you recognize that someone else has a hot hand or that we can get a better shot, don’t just take the shot that you get, pass it up for a better shot. And then eventually it will come back to you. I thought that was Honesty tonight. There’s going to be days when you can’t score, what else can you do to help win? Honesty did a lot today.”
And while Scott-Grayson may have not put up her typical double-figure point performance, her intensity and impact on the game is still felt by her teammates.
“Honesty is an incredible athlete,” Hughes said. “She’s just so in tune with the team and she’s doing so much for us. I didn’t even really notice that she didn’t score as much as she does because she was being so productive. Because she was out there hustling, out there diving after loose balls, just doing things that Honesty does. She made an incredible impact today.”
Auburn’s offense was clicking on all cylinders, setting new marks of most points scored in a first, second and third quarter this season. Each of the first three quarters, the Tigers had 20-plus points and they finished the game shooting 44.6% from the field.
But there’s still a major area where the team can improve, according to Harris. The Tigers had 21 turnovers in the game, which tied a season-high.
“I wasn’t pleased with our turnovers,” Harris said. “ 21 turnovers against that team is way too much, against any team is way too much.”
Meanwhile, Auburn’s defense forced 30 Charleston Southern turnovers and scored 32 points off of them. Most of the turnovers were steals, Scott-Grayson and Hughes led the team with five apiece. It was the most steals in a game since the Tigers had 21 in a game against Georgia on Feb. 3, 2019.
Auburn will look to steal another win next Tuesday when it hosts North Florida for the second consecutive season. That game will tip off at 7 p.m. and be broadcast on SEC Network-plus from Auburn Arena.
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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
