Much of the talk going into Saturday’s matchup between Auburn and LSU was about the defense of LSU, who came into the game leading the SEC in turnovers forced and steals per game.
Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl acknowledged how good LSU has been on defense in his press conference on Thursday, as he cited three different defensive statistics that LSU excels at.
But on Saturday, it was the home Auburn Tigers who used 16 steals to down LSU 93-78 inside Neville Arena. Auburn’s win improved the Tigers to a perfect 3-0 record in the SEC.
Auburn’s 16 steals were a season high and turned into 26 points off turnovers. The Tigers’ steal mark was led by six from forward Chad Baker-Mazara.
“LSU does turn it over. They do turn it over some,” Pearl said. “Like they force you into 15, 16. They themselves turn it over 12 or 13, so they’re a team that we knew we could turn over.”
Auburn can also credit its victory to a stellar first-half performance where the Tigers scored 51 points.
Auburn shot 50% from the field in the first half and hit seven 3-pointers while also shooting at a 50% clip from deep in the first 20 minutes.
As the theme has been most of the season, Auburn also used an excellent bench performance to go on a couple runs in the first half. The Auburn bench, who Aden Holloway said “kind of won us the game today,” combined for 26 points in the first half and K.D. Johnson, Tre Donaldson, Baker-Mazara and Dylan Cardwell combined to shoot a perfect 12-for-12 from the free-throw line – highlighting a 16-for-19 Auburn performance at the free-throw line in the first half.
“It’s getting really obvious that our second group coming in is really effective defensively,” Pearl said. “And turning people over and playing with a different level of effort, energy and effectiveness. Now part of it is when that group comes in, the other team’s starters are still in there, and they (Auburn’s bench) are fresh and furious and they’re able to make plays. That’s part of what we try to do.”
The second half appeared to be going Auburn’s away again as the Tigers’ lead ballooned to 28 with just over 11 minutes to play. At 73-45, Auburn was enjoying its biggest lead of the game, but four consecutive LSU 3-pointers started a 21-2 run for the Bayou Bengals.
With 5:34 left, Auburn’s lead had been cut to nine, but a solid final four minutes from Baker-Mazara helped Auburn hold on.
Baker-Mazara hit a 3-pointer to put an end to LSU’s run and followed that with another made basket, two made free throws, one steal, one block and one assist in the final four minutes.
“I feel like after that three, it like kind of killed their energy,” Baker-Mazara said. “The whole crowd, everybody, got really excited, really hype, and I feel like that just started our run back again and that just killed their energy and just let us dominate them.”
Baker-Mazara stuffed the stat sheet, scoring a game-high 19 points while also corralling a career-high six steals.
“Chad’s length and his IQ, he’s a problem out there,” Pearl said. “He’s so versatile offensively. The fact that he knocked down three threes tonight, shot a good percentage, I trust him as a playmaker and obviously trust him defensively.”
Coming into Saturday’s game, Auburn was fifth in the SEC in free-throw percentage (74.5%), and led by Baker-Mazara and Johnson both going 6-for-6 from the line, Auburn was extremely efficient at the charity stripe again – shooting 27-of-31 as a team.
Baker-Mazara’s big day was helped by three other Tigers who scored in double figures. Center Johni Broome scored 18 points with seven rebounds while shooting 5-for-6 from the free-throw line.
Holloway poured in 13 points with three 3-pointers while also dishing out three assists. The freshman’s 13 points marked the first time he has scored in double figures since Dec. 17 when he scored 15 against USC.
Auburn’s backup point guard Tre Donaldson also came in and was effective for the Tigers – finishing with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists.
Next up, Auburn goes on the road to face Vanderbilt. The Commodores fell to 5-11 and 0-3 in the SEC on Saturday after a 69-56 loss at Ole Miss. The matchup between the Tigers and Commodores will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. CST with coverage on the SEC Network.
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Jacob Waters is a senior majoring in journalism. From Leeds, Alabama, he started with The Plainsman in August, 2021.
Twitter: @JacobWaters_
