AUBURN, Ala. — It wasn’t the best of halves for Auburn in the first, but a better second half pushed the Tigers past North Alabama 70-44 on Tuesday.
Head coach Bruce Pearl was serving his second and final game of a two-game suspension. It presented a “next-man-up mentality” for the rest of the staff and the Tigers went 2-0 without Pearl.
“The circumstance that kind of was put on us with the two games of Coach [Bruce Pearl] not being here, you've really got to rely on the guy next to you,” said acting head coach Steven Pearl. “It's kind of a next-man-up mentality. We have the best staff in the country, and it was very just kind of seamless.”
Seamless was also how the night started for 7-foot-1 center Walker Kessler.
Dec. 14, 2021; Walker Kessler (13) goes up for a shot against North Alabama from Auburn Arena in Auburn, Ala.
Kessler made his presence known early, starting his evening with two blocks, an assist and a dunk within the first minute and a half of play. His size and length were instrumental down low throughout the night, especially in the second half.
He finished the evening 6-of-8 from the field, with all eight shots coming from inside the paint.
“I think our guards did a great job getting the ball inside,” Kessler said. “I think that our coaching staff and Coach Steve [Pearl], at halftime, we understood that offensively we weren’t finishing as well as we should be, so we really just attacked that.”
His game-opening dunk ignited a 7-0 run to start the contest. It looked like the game could be on its way to another dominant Auburn victory from the beginning. Large margins of victory have been common for the Tigers lately, who came into Tuesday’s contest winning their last five games by an average of 20 points.
The efficient start wasn’t retained for the remainder of the first half, as North Alabama battled back and kept it interesting for the No. 13 team in the country.
As a team, Auburn struggled at the glass early. The Lions out-rebounded the Tigers 24-21 in the first half, nine of which were offensive rebounds. It kept the gap within a reasonable distance, but a reasonable distance turned into striking distance fast, when North Alabama went on a 10-0 run late in the first.
The lead, which was once 11 points, turned into a one-possession game where Auburn barely held the lead, 23-22. Offensive struggles for both teams continued over the next four minutes until the halftime buzzer sounded.
It was 32-27 Auburn at the midway point.
The second half was much different. While Auburn’s offense shot sub-35% in the second, it was the defense that made the difference. Auburn held North Alabama to 17 points and just 27% from the field in the final 20 minutes of play.
“Defensively, I thought we just flew around, had great activity,” Steven Pearl said. “Our size and length is going to be huge for us all year, and we got to do a good job of using that. Then, the quickness of our guards, getting in there, stripping and ripping and making plays, making extra efforts, you know, I thought was really important tonight.”
Not to mention that the offensive rebounds North Alabama grabbed in the first half were non-existent in the second half. Only one offensive board was grabbed by a North Alabama player in the second.
After recording two steals in the first half, the Tigers grabbed five steals in the second half.
“I think we’re very strong defensively,” Kessler said. “Our guards are not fun to play against. They’re so scrappy up there going after loose balls, getting steals. I think that is a big part of our identity.”
With every North Alabama miss and Auburn rebound, the lead was slowly pushed back out by Auburn. Eventually, the shots started falling for the Tigers and a 27-4 run out of the locker rooms put the game away.
Devan Cambridge put it away with an exclamation mark.
With 10 minutes remaining, a North Alabama turnover fell into the hands of Wendell Green Jr. Green tossed the ball from free-throw line to free-throw line, connecting with a sprinting Cambridge who went under the rim and threw down a reverse dunk.
“All year I’ve been waiting for a fast break like that,” Cambridge said. “I was thinking about that the whole game. The way he threw the ball led me, I just let it bounce and I just went ahead and went for it.”
Auburn Arena erupted.
“He’s crazy, I don’t understand how he jumps like that,” Kessler said of Cambridge. “It gets our whole team hype, obviously the whole arena goes crazy and wild, so that gets everyone excited.”
Cambridge finished the night with 13 points and five rebounds. He was tied with Jabari Smith for the second-most points on the team. Smith, who had a team-high 10 rebounds, finished with his third double-double of the season.
The Tigers are now 9-1 on the season and will face Saint Louis on the road on Saturday. That game will kick off at 8 p.m. from Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri.
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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
