Defense has been the lone bright spot for Auburn Basketball this season.
Auburn’s six SEC losses have come in three classes this year.
Games in which the Tigers were competitive until the end before falling (Florida and Alabama), games in which they fell far behind before mounting a bit of a comeback (LSU and Arkansas) and games they were never in (Kentucky and Mississippi State).
Through it all — while Auburn’s offense has been atrocious — the defense has been average-to-good.
The Tigers rank smack in the middle of the league (sixth) in scoring defense with 65.3 points per game against, and rank seventh in that category in conference games at 68.5 ppg — 0.1 points behind today’s opponent South Carolina.
They also rank third in the league with 8.0 steals per conference game.
Auburn’s defensive high point so far has been the 45 points and 28-percent shooting it yielded to the No. 24 Gators.
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Aubie was excited for win #2
The Auburn basketball team overcame its season-high 23 turnovers Tuesday night by shooting a season-high 51.7 percent from the field to take down Divison-II foe Georgia Southwestern, 78-50.
The Tigers (2-4) scored 11 straight points to break the game open and put themselves up 55-38 with less than 10 minutes to go. They increased their lead to 20 points with 4 minutes remaining, and then to 28 after Allen Payne dunked the ball just before the buzzer went off.
Though Auburn head coach Tony Barbee’s reaction to the crowd seeemed a little unexpected.
“It is like I keep telling the crowd, don’t cheer when we hit a 3,” Barbee said. “Don’t cheer when we dunk the ball. Sit on your hands. I want you going crazy when somebody dives like we just won the World Series. Cheer when we dive. Cheer when we take charges. Go crazy then because that is the positive feedback I want these guys getting so they understand that good offense, good defense that is all great and fine.”
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Hang on to your hats Auburn fans it's going to be a long season
For the second time in five days, the Auburn Arena sat in stunned silence as the visiting team rushed off its bench to celebrate in the middle of its brand-new floor.
Monday, it was Division-II Columbus State players rushing the court after two last-second Auburn tips fell short.
Friday, it was UNC Asheville crashing the Tigers’ party after coming from 12 points down to post a 70-69 overtime victory.
This time, it counted.
“Our inexperience showed,” coach Tony Barbee said. “We are what we are. I thought we played hard, for the most part we battled. We’ve got a bunch of guys who haven’t been in that position before.
“It’s the growing pains I talked about.”
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It could be a long season for Barbee and the Tigers
Tony Barbee said the best thing about Monday’s exhibition loss to Columbus State was that it didn’t count in the season standings.
Starting tonight, however, Auburn’s first-year head men’s basketball coach won’t be able to make that claim. Now, they all count.
The Tigers host UNC Asheville in both teams’ regular-season opener at 8 p.m. at Auburn Arena. The Auburn women’s team will play Mercer prior to the men’s game, as part of a doubleheader to christen the brand new venue.
“After seeing the opening event that we had when it was sold out with all of those people in the seats and the noise that was being made, I know it’s going to be even crazier for this opening night doubleheader,” Barbee said. “I’m just looking forward to getting in there and witnessing the atmosphere, and then, hopefully, at the end of the day come out with a win.”
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