With seven minutes left to play, No. 2 Auburn led No. 16 Purdue by 33 points, entering a media timeout on a 17-2 run and holding the Boilermakers to one of their last ten field goals.
Auburn defeated Purdue 87-69, holding the Boilermakers to just 26 points in the first half and 43 in the second. The Tigers held Purdue – a team that averages 40% from three – to 39% from the field and 34.8% from behind-the-arc.
“You can control the outcome with how you defend,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. “Just thought we did a better job of making it difficult for Purdue, they're better from three than they are from two. We made them make tough twos.”
In their routing of the Boilermakers, the Tigers held Purdue’s top-three scorers to just 34 points combined – a trio that averages 45.1 points per game combined.
“We pride ourselves on our defense. We make everything hard,” said Auburn center Johni Broome.” “Braden Smith is a really good point guard, so we tried to get after him a little bit, make him pass the ball. They've got a good big man inside, so we tried to front him and make his catches harder. I thought we did a great job with that.”
Purdue guards Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith, who have combined for 47 3-pointers and average 45.6% from deep, made just two threes on nine combined attempts.
Loyer finished the game with 11 points, and Smith tallied eight points, including two triples. C.J. Cox led the Boilermakers with 16 points, a season-high for the freshman guard.
Auburn guard Denver Jones led the Tigers’ backcourt in limiting the offense of Loyer and Smith. Jones finished the night with 15 points, four assists, one rebound and +26 in plus-minus.
“Denver Jones is one of the best defensive guards in college basketball,” Pearl said. “Just quietly putting all that pressure on Braden Smith. I don't know how many times he got scored on, but he does not get scored on very often.”
The Tigers' defense controlled nearly every aspect of the night. Auburn forced 12 Purdue turnovers, six steals and six blocks while scoring 23 points off turnovers and 17 fastbreak points.
“At the Duke game, we only turned them over four times, and Coach (Pearl) was on us a lot after that game,” Broome said. “But, we're a better defensive team than that. So after that, you know, it kind of was a wake up call as well, something that we needed. And as you can see, our defense has turned it up another notch.”
Since its 84-78 loss at Duke in a true road game, Auburn has held its opponents to 69 points or less – and 59 points or less prior to the Tigers’ 87-69 win over Purdue.
With the win, Auburn picks up its sixth Quad 1 win, marking the most of any team in the country. The Tigers also picked up their fourth victory against a Top-25 opponent this season.
Up next, No. 2 Auburn faces Monmouth in its final non-conference matchup of the season on Monday, Dec. 30 at Neville Arena. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. CST and will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
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Grace Heim is a senior from Enterprise, Alabama, majoring in Political Science. She started with The Plainsman in January of 2023.
You can follow her on X (Twitter) at @graceeheim
