ORLANDO, Fla. – It was a strong effort defensively from Auburn on Monday night. But the Tigers struggled offensively and didn't have enough firepower to win on the road as they dropped a 63-55 decision to UCF to wrap up a three-game stretch in Florida.
"Defensively I thought our kids played hard. I thought we had a good game plan," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "To hold Central Florida down to 63 points, 37 percent shooting, turning them over 19 times – I thought we did a really good job there. Offensively, it was a disaster. There's no other way of putting it. We played much better in Fort Myers than we did tonight."
The lone bright spot offensively for Auburn was junior guard Jamal Johnson who finished with a career-high 18 points and made 5 of 12 shots from beyond the arc.
The Tigers got down by as many as 12 early in the second half, but Johnson responded with a 3 to jumpstart a 5-point possession and swing the momentum back in their favor. Later in the half, he drained another 3 to cut the UCF lead to six. He also added five rebounds and two assists to along with his game-high 18 points.
"He had two assists, no turnovers. He shot a good percentage. He had five rebounds. I thought Jamal played really well," Pearl said. "This is his fourth year of college basketball. He's really my only experienced college player. I think that's shown. I thought he played pretty well against Gonzaga, and I thought he played well again tonight."
As a team, though, Auburn struggled shooting the ball. The Tigers shot 32 percent (20-62) from the field and just 21 percent (7-34) from beyond the arc. They were 8 of 22 from the free throw line.
"It was just one of those days," Johnson said. "We couldn't buy a bucket. We couldn't make free throws. We couldn't make lay-ups. It just happens sometimes."
However, it was Auburn's effort on the defensive end and on the glass that kept the Tigers in it. They forced 19 turnovers, blocked five shots and held UCF to 37 percent shooting. They also pulled down 19 offensive rebounds and won the battle on the glass, 48-40.
Sophomore Jaylin Williams grabbed a team-high eight rebounds for Auburn and was tied with Justin Powell for second on the team with eight points. Williams also chipped in two assists, two blocks and a steal while Powell finished with seven rebounds, matching his career high. The freshman now has six or more rebounds in each of the team's first three games.
Fellow freshman Dylan Cardwell, who had yet to score his first collegiate points, finished with six points on 3 of 4 shooting. The 6-foot-11 Cardwell was on the receiving end of an alley-oop dunk from JT Thor in the first half and then threw down another dunk in the opening minutes of the second half.
After spending the past week in the Sunshine State, the Tigers (1-2) will return home to make their 2020-21 debut in Auburn Arena on Friday night against South Alabama.
"It will be good to get this team back home," Pearl said. "Maybe we'll play better at home just from the familiarity of it. It's going to be a great weekend at Auburn with the Texas A&M football game on Saturday. South Alabama gave us all we wanted a year ago. We'll see if we can continue to learn and get better."
The game is scheduled to tip at 8 p.m. CT and will be televised on SEC Network.
