Auburn came into Wednesday’s game against St. John’s looking to bounce back, and it did just that with a quality win.
The Tigers beat the Red Storm 85-74 improving to 6-2 on the season and finishing the Players Era Festival 2-1. The victory over St. John’s is also Auburn’s first ranked win of the season.
Next up for Auburn is a home game against NC State in the ACC/SEC challenge as the Tigers look to notch another quality non-conference win.
With that said, here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s game.
Overcame foul trouble
Auburn’s frontcourt was already thin coming into the game, as Filip Jovic was out due to a wrist injury.
Steven Pearl opted against giving Emeka Opurum extensive minutes, meaning Keyshawn Hall, KeShawn Murphy and Sebastian Williams-Adams were the only true frontcourt players who impacted the game.
Thet became an issue when Murphy picked up this third foul in the first half, making the rotation even thinner than it was to start the game. St. John’s took advantage of that toward the end of the first and beginning of the second half, dominating Auburn on the offensive glass.
Auburn trailed by nine at halftime, but it didn’t let the foul trouble affect the game in the second half. Murphy only picked up one more throughout the rest of the game, as Auburn’s rebounding and interior defense improved with him on the floor.
The Tigers looked like the much better team in the final 20 minutes, showing an impressive ability to respond after St. John’s closed the first half strong.
Big day from Tahaad Pettiford
After a slow start from the field in Auburn’s first handful of games, the trip to Las Vegas has been a positive one for Tahaad Pettiford.
He was Auburn’s top scorer against St. John’s finishing with career-high 27 points. His play in the second half helped Auburn pull away/stay in the game. At one point he scored 12 straight points for the Tigers, giving them the lead.
With Wednesday’s performance Pettiford finishes the Players Era Festival averaging 22.3 points per game. He averaged just 10.8 in Auburn’s first five games. That’s not a bad mark, but not what many expected of Pettiford coming into the season.
Pearl never seemed worried about Pettiford finding his shot, and in Las Vegas, he found it.
A good response
Wednesday’s game was a major test for Auburn. Not only was it facing a strong St. John’s team, the Tigers had less than 24 hours to shake off a 30-point loss to Michigan.
Auburn started the game fast, but a St. John’s surge later in the half gave it a comfortable lead at halftime. The Tigers didn’t go away, though, responding not only from the previous night’s loss, but also from in-game adversity.
How Auburn played against St. John’s doesn’t change the Michigan result or make it look any better. However, it lessens some of the angst that a 30-point loss early in the season can create.
Hitting the panic button after a loss in November is never a wise thing to do, and Wednesday’s win proved that to be true. Auburn is far from having everything figured out, but the St. John’s win was the bounce back result it needed.
