Auburn takes down Jackson State in a strong showing on the plains by a score of 112-66 and making it a complete team effort with nine different players having five or more points and five of them achieving double digits. The Tigers offense exploded getting their highest points mark since 2019.
The Tigers rolled out their fifth different lineup in as many games on the season following the injury to Keyshawn Hall. The new lineup for the Tigers showed no signs of struggle though, as they quickly jumped out to a double-digit lead and did not look back. They ended up shooting a ridiculous 65% from the field while going 15-for-19 from the free throw line.
The Tigers offense was led, in part, by Filip Jović who had his first breakout game getting double his previous career high with 18 points along with three rebounds and a big block. The Tigers would end up being led by KeShawn Murphy who ended with 19 points.
From the start the Tigers used turnovers to their advantage earning a massive 23 points off of turnovers for the first half nearly matching Jackson State’s entire total of 24 first half points. Auburn would end the day with 22 turnovers on defense which is by far the most they have had this season and 39 points off of those turnovers.
The Tigers also dominated the paint outgaining the Jackson State Tigers majorly in the paint with a nearly two times their point paints finishing with 56 points down low many of which came courtesy of Jović and center Murphy.
“So I thought our guys did a pretty good job in that area,” coach Steven Pearl remarked on the offense in the paint. “You know, we had a couple turnovers just by trying to force tough passes in there, so we didn’t make the easy pass every time, but you know, 56 points in the paint, that’s was kind of what we were expecting to do.”
The game was also elevated by Auburn’s ability to shoot the three ball as they amassed 13 3-pointers. The triples came from six separate players having a 3-pointers along with one of the stories of the game being freshman Simon Walker who had been injured and made his Auburn debut today after finally being cleared. Walker wasted no time getting his career scoring going within seconds of him first entering the game he hit his first three. This 3-pointer was followed by four more totaling five straight to start his career making him 5-for-5 on the game in just seven minutes of playing time.
“Yeah definitely in a first career game there’s definitely a lot of nerves there,” the freshman shooter Walker said about his first outing, “especially coming off an injury, not having a ton of reps, but kind of once you get out there, once the ball’s in play you don’t really have time to react and be nervous like that. And I know one thing, shooters shoot, so I’m hoping to get a good look.”
Auburn looks to take this momentum into their road trip to Las Vegas where they will face high level competition in the Players Era Championship tournament, facing Oregon on Monday November 24th followed by Michigan the next day on the 25th.
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Reid is a sophomore majoring in accounting. He joined the Plainsman in the fall of 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @ReidFarris2
