Auburn has looked like the best team in college basketball all season, and the Tigers showed it with a big-time win over Purdue in their last game before Christmas. The No. 2 team in the country lived up to the billing as Auburn won 87-69 against a top-20 opponent with a top-10 offense.

Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl, a strong candidate for Naismith College Coach of the Year, gave the Boilermakers their flowers after the contest. Despite the loss, Purdue has established itself as a yearly threat – as seen during last spring’s March Madness finals run – during longtime coach Matt Painter’s successful tenure.

“We beat a good team, but we beat a great basketball program,” Pearl said. “Nobody does it better than Purdue. Period.”

Pearl’s respect for Purdue was evident as his team showed no mercy, playing with ultimate urgency from the start. The Tigers shot 54.5% from the field and 38.5% from three with 24 team assists and only nine turnovers. Calling this year’s Auburn squad a championship contender would be an understatement.

Bruce Pearl makes strong claim about Auburn senior Chad Baker-Mazara

Johni Broome continued his National Player of the Year campaign with 23 points and 11 rebounds, but it was senior Chad Baker-Mazarra who fueled Auburn’s domination on both sides of the ball. 

Baker-Mazarra did it all for the Tigers, scoring eight points to go with six assists, four steals, and two blocks. In his second year with Auburn, the 6-foot-7 guard has averaged a career-high 13.2 points in just 22.6 minutes per game. He has averaged the fifth-most minutes on the team while averaging the second-most points only behind Broome.

Pearl praised Baker-Mazarra for his versatile impact, calling him one of the best players in the country.

“Chad Baker-Mazara is instinctively one of the best players in our league,” Pearl said, per Peter Rauterkus of AL.com. “He flat-out is. He affects the game in so many ways. Over the last two games, I believe he has 12 assists and just two turnovers.”

The Tigers will look to build on their 11-1 record after the holiday break. They will face a Monmouth team with a 2-10 record on Dec. 30 before kicking off an epic SEC gauntlet in January.