The No. 1 Auburn Tigers picked up a 80-68 win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday night, bouncing back after losing their first conference game to No. 3 Florida.
“Our fans are traveling. They’ve embraced this program, they certainly love this team,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. “When the guys play like that, play so well together, it’s really gratifying. That was a really good win against a really good basketball team.”
Denver Jones led the charge with a season-high 21 points, shooting an efficient 7-of-10 from the field and 5-of-7 from beyond-the-arc. He set the tone early, scoring 14 first-half points, including a pair of quick three-pointers that helped Auburn race out to a 15-0 lead.
“(Associate head coach Steven Pearl) said come out aggressive and always look to score, and the game will come a little bit easier,” Jones said. “That was the mindset I had today. That’s the confidence the coaches instilled in me.”
Despite the Tigers’ hot start, Vanderbilt clawed its way back into the game, closing the first half on an 18-7 run to cut Auburn’s lead to just two at the break, 34-32.
After four lead changes early in the second half, Auburn needed a spark—and Chaney Johnson delivered. With the Tigers trailing by one six minutes into the half, Johnson went on a 9-0 run, knocking down a 3-pointer and finishing three straight inside buckets to push Auburn ahead by eight. The senior forward was dominant down the stretch, scoring 16 of his 20 points in the second half while shooting 9-of-10 from the field.
“Chaney Johnson was rewarded as our hardest worker. He is our hardest worker,” Pearl said. “All those moves down there at the basket. Nobody is in the gym more than Chaney Johnson, working on those moves, perfecting those moves. And he obviously had an advantage on the inside and took full advantage 9-for-10. That's hard to do."
Johni Broome struggled in the first half, going 1-for-6 from the field, but he found his rhythm in the second half, finishing with 17 points and seven rebounds.
The Tigers shot a blistering 61.5% from the field in the second half and 51.7% overall, while holding the Commodores to 41.9% from the field and 17.6% from deep.
With the win, Auburn improves to 22-2 overall and 10-1 in SEC play, picking up its 12th Quad 1 win of the season. But now, all eyes shift to Saturday.
The Tigers travel to Tuscaloosa for a matchup against No. 2 Alabama in what will be the first-ever No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown between Auburn and the Crimson Tide. Tip-off at Coleman Coliseum is set for Saturday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. CT on ESPN.
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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
