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A spirit that is not afraid

Auburn bench shines in exhibition win

Fresh off a historic season where Auburn won a regular season SEC Championship and earned its first No. 1 ranking in program history, the Tigers picked up where they left off with an 87-69 win over the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

While it was an equally distributed effort from Auburn, the Tigers’ bench led them to victory — scoring 53 of the team’s 87 points.

Head coach Bruce Pearl elected to start Wendell Green Jr., Zep Jasper, Chris Moore, Yohan Traore and Dylan Cardwell. However, Pearl said before the season that the starting lineup for the opening exhibition was “not necessarily” the same lineup Auburn would use to start the regular season.

Pearl’s hint at experimenting with lineups came true when he subbed out every starter excluding Green Jr. just three minutes into the game.

Auburn’s bench made an immediate difference as K.D. Johnson, in his second season at Auburn, forced a turnover and scored on the other end. The play painted a theme of how the rest of the night would go for the Tigers.

The stellar bench play came from a variety of different players, including two established veterans of the team, a true freshman and a transfer big man.

One of those veterans is Jaylin Williams who had a flawless shooting night. With 16 points, Williams shot 6-for-6 from the field while hitting all three of his free throws and connecting on a three pointer. Williams, whose time at Auburn has seen him consistently alternate between starter and role player, led the team in scoring Wednesday night. The senior also led the team with Johnson in the plus/minus stat at +23.

“Jaylin Williams was terrific.” Pearl said. “He had great pop, great energy. Making plays, he looked great.”

Allen Flanigan also looked like his old self. The senior from Arkansas filled the stat sheet with 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. His assist tally led the team, and he finished second on the team in rebounds.

Flanigan partially tore his achilles tendon prior to the season and battled that injury throughout the season, returning to his starting role as SEC play began. Taking a backseat last year to Green Jr., Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler, Flanigan saw his scoring diminish to just six points per game his junior year. 

Now healthy and eyeing a return to his sophomore-season form, his teammates were not surprised by his impressive start to the season. Williams called Flanigan’s first step “unbelievable” and Green Jr. said Flanigan’s performance has grown normal to the rest of the team.

“We’ve seen it before the rest of y’all in practice,” Green Jr. said. “We saw it coming.”

Pearl praised Flanigan’s performance postgame too.

“(Flanigan) getting back and seeing how healthy he is now, seeing his athleticism and then making plays, that was really good,” Pearl said. "He didn't hesitate at all with his jump shot. Was effective defensively. He was one of our top rebounders. Had a really good assist-turnover ratio, 4 and 2. That was a really, really good game for him."

As the first point guard off the bench, true freshman Tre Donaldson made the most of his moments off the bench with 10 points and two assists. Defensively, the Tallahassee native recorded a steal and a block. Despite his 6-foot-2 frame, Donaldson also led the team in rebounds with seven boards in just 17 minutes.

Fellow freshman Chance Westry did not play against UAH and is still “a few weeks away” from returning to action, according to Pearl. He had a knee scope performed and has been sidelined during the short recovery. With the injury, Donaldson will take on a bigger role and seemed to grab the attention of his head coach after his efficient start to his freshman campaign.

“I thought Tre (Donaldson) was super solid,” Pearl said. “He’s got good command of the offense. He doesn’t play like a freshman. He doesn’t act like a freshman.”

Auburn officially opens its season next Monday in Neville Arena with a home matchup against George Mason. The game tips off at 7 p.m. CST and will be broadcast on SEC Network+.

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Jacob Waters | Sports Reporter

Jacob is a sophomore from Leeds, Alabama. This is his second year with The Auburn Plainsman. 

Twitter: @JacobWaters_


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