Williams shines in Nashville, Auburn extends win streak to 10

A dynamic end of the first half fueled Auburn basketball to a win on the road in Nashville, Tennessee, defeating the Vanderbilt Commodores 80-65 at Memorial Gymnasium and extending its win streak to 10 games.

After a slow start in which the Tigers saw themselves trailing at the under-12 timeout, the offense exploded to finish the half on a 27-8 run over the final 9:28. Jaylin Williams played a big part in this run, scoring nine of his 17 first-half points during this run.

“He’s 5-for-5 in the first half and doesn’t say a word about ‘Get me the ball,’” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. “He just plays the game the right way. We had something in for him today.”

While the offense stood out going into the break, Auburn’s defense played a big role as it has all season. The strong performance on the other side of the court pushed the Commodores into multiple scoring droughts.

“Vanderbilt is last in our league in assists, and so they average 10. They only had four tonight,” Pearl said. “I thought our guys overall did a pretty good job defensively with the exception of fouling too much in the second half.”

Williams picked up eight of the first 12 Tiger points before the initial media timeout, foreshadowing the type of night that was ahead for both him and his team. 

Following the second media timeout of the opening half, the huge run hit a high when Auburn strung together three straight 3-point baskets courtesy of Chad Baker-Mazara and Aden Holloway. This became the kick-start that the men in orange and blue needed to propel them to a win.

“I thought Chad Baker (Mazara), you know, quietly again stuffs the stat sheet with a lot of high IQ plays,” Pearl said.

The game slowly settled down slowly as the second half got underway. Vanderbilt kept fighting to keep Auburn’s lead in check but the Tigers did not let go of this lead easily.

Johni Broome took hold of the second half early on, scoring four of Auburn’s first six coming out of the break. His scoring was just the start of an explosive finish by the Auburn big men.

As the clock hovered around the second media timeout, Broome helped to extend the lead to 20 before giving way to teammate Dylan Cardwell, who scored eight of the next nine Tiger points on his own to put the Tiger lead at 21 with 10 minutes left in the game. Cardwell finished with a career-high 12 points.

“You know Dylan is a great, great guy,” Williams said. “I’m very proud of Dylan. He plays hard,… Dylan is always just trying to get better, and he’s not crying about no minutes. When he’s out there he’s going to play as hard as he possibly can.”

Following Cardwell’s run, Broome continued the success and picked up his 53rd double-double, totaling 15 points and 12 rebounds on the night.

The two centers combined for 27 points and 18 rebounds in the victory. The surprise for Auburn, though, came by way of the charity stripe. 

After barely putting Vanderbilt in the bonus in the first half, the Tigers were charged 15 fouls in the closing 20 minutes, a remarkable number for a team that had improved in limiting their opposition’s trips to the line.

“I’m not happy with how we played in the second half,” Pearl said. “Vanderbilt was 2-for-5 from the foul line in the first half. In the second half, they shoot 25 free throws. It’s hard to get in any kind of flow.”

The Tigers shot at a 46.6% rate, staying on par with their average. They also shot above average from the free-throw line at 81.8%.

Williams led all scorers with 21 points, recording a perfect night from both the field and the free-throw line. He was one of four Tigers in double figures, along with Broome, Cardwell and Holloway. 

Auburn now heads back home to Neville Arena to try and keep its winning streak alive against Ole Miss. The matchup with the Rebels will tip off at 7:30 p.m. CST on Saturday and will be broadcast on SEC Network.