In a rare Quad II Southeastern Conference game, Auburn basketball extended its winning streak to 14 games with a 98-70 win over Oklahoma.
It puts Auburn at 9-0 in SEC play, now a win away from tying the second-best conference start in program history. Against Oklahoma, Auburn returned to its dominant ways at home, running away from the Sooners in the second half.
Despite being a Quad II opponent, Oklahoma was no pushover, coming into Tuesday’s game 16-5 with non-conference wins over Arizona, Louisville and Michigan. The Sooners also scored a 30-point win over then No. 24 Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Auburn rolled to victory regardless and now prepares for another top 10 matchup, this time against No. 6 Florida.
Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s game:
Every game seems to be an impressive showing for Auburn star big man Johni Broome, but it was clear early in Tuesday’s game that he and Auburn’s other frontcourt players could have big nights.
Oklahoma came into the game struggling both on the glass and in 2-point defense, creating favorable matchups for Broome, Dylan Cardwell and Chaney Johnson.
Broome himself was quiet by his standards, but the trio combined for 36 points and 16 rebounds and Auburn finished with 46 points in the paint, outscoring Oklahoma in that area by 26.
Auburn also blocked 11 shots; an effort led by Cardwell who finished with six.
Auburn got a lot of open 3-point looks against Oklahoma. For a team that shoots just under 38% from 3-point range, that sounds like a recipe for a blowout.
The Tigers shot just 31% from 3 against Oklahoma — 6.7 points below their season average — but Auburn still cruised to a blowout win.
Oklahoma’s weak paint defense required the Sooners to constantly put multiple players on Broome and send help in the post, leading to open looks for Auburn’s shooters. The guards weren’t as efficient as normal, but when looking at the result, it didn’t matter.
That’s another example of just how hard to stop Auburn’s offense is, as the Tigers continue to hold the No. 1 spot in KenPom’s offensive efficiency ratings by a large margin.
There’s a number of ways to play effective defense in basketball.
Some teams wear you down and don’t give up anything on the glass. Others might press you and thrive off chaos and turnovers. Against Oklahoma, the best way to describe Auburn’s defense would be pesky.
The Tigers held the normally efficient Sooners to shooting 33% from the field and 30% from 3, 7.9 points lower than their season average. In oversimplified terms, Auburn did that by not letting Oklahoma get anything easy.
Auburn finished the game with 20 ‘stocks’ (steals and blocks), constantly altering shots and pressuring Oklahoma’s ballhandlers. When the Tigers weren’t getting their hands on the ball, almost every shot was altered by a long-armed defender.
Auburn has a lot of length on the perimeter, and that clearly worked in its favor against Oklahoma, a team with multiple talented guards that are often the focal point of the offense.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at prauterkus@al.com
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