Jan. 27, 2018
By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. -- The last two home games, No. 19 Auburn has fallen behind in the first half only to rally back in the final 20 minutes. On Saturday, there was no comeback needed. The Tigers came out red hot and never cooled down as they blew past LSU, 95-70, to improve to 19-2 (7-1, SEC) and extend their lead atop the conference standings.
It was the largest win in conference play since Auburn beat Alabama by 26 in 2007.
"What a treat," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said after the game. "How do you not sit back at Mustapha Heron and go, `Wow?' The same goes for Bryce Brown or the defense of Jared Harper, Davion Mitchell or Bryce Brown on [Tremont] Waters. I think our fans got treated to some fun basketball."
Led by Heron, Auburn went on an 18-0 run in the first five minutes to build an early 24-6 lead. The sophomore guard started a perfect 6 of 6 from the field with four three-point shots and scored 16 points in the first five minutes. He finished with a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds.
Five other Tigers scored in double figures, including Brown, who made five shots from long range and freshman Chuma Okeke, who scored 14 points off the bench.
But as impressive as Heron was early, it's hard to ignore what was another gritty performance from junior forward Desean Murray. The first-year starter finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, including six on the offensive end. And when Anfernee McLemore and Horace Spencer both checked out with four fouls early in the second half, it was Murray who took over to keep Auburn comfortably ahead.
As a team, the home Tigers outrebounded LSU, 38-24.
"It was a big emphasis," Murray said. "[Pearl] told us that they were 11-1 when they outrebound opponents, and they have a losing record when they don't. We knew that going into the game, so we knew we had to rebound today."
As for Waters, the LSU point guard didn't make his first basket from the field until midway through the second half. The freshman, who came in averaging 15.7 points per game, finished with just four points against Auburn's stingy defense.
It was the third-straight sellout crowd at Auburn Arena, and there were plenty of navy AUTLIVE t-shirts amongst the fans. The final numbers have not been tabulated, but this year's AUTLIVE campaign is on pace to post record numbers in terms of t-shirt sales and donations. If you weren't able to buy a t-shirt, you can still donate online at AUTLIVE.com.
"The crowd was tremendous," Pearl said. "The support for AUTLIVE was just incredible. We've got the brand out now of outliving cancer. I think it's got a chance to hold on here. We're going to take that money and spread it out into the community to patients. I can hardly wait to help them out some more because of the generosity of the community."
Next up for the Tigers is a road trip to Ole Miss on Tuesday (8 p.m., SEC Network).
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf