AUBURN, Ala. – Sophomore Walker Kessler recorded his second triple-double of the season and the third in Auburn history, and the Tigers bounced back from Tuesday night's loss with an emphatic 75-58 win over Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon.
"Our team played really hard today in front of a national television audience," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said.
Kessler, coming off a 19-rebound effort against Arkansas, finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 12 blocks. With a triple-double earlier in the season against LSU (16 points, 10 rebounds, 11 blocks), he becomes the fifth player in SEC history with multiple triple-doubles, and he's the only player in the country with two this season.
"I am thankful for my teammates," Kessler said. "They make it easy to block shots because they're so good and defend the ball. They know that I can block the shot, so they corral the guard to me. I wouldn't be able to do that kind of stuff without them. I'm just I'm thankful to get the win."
"Walker Kessler is one of the most dominant players in all of college basketball," added Pearl. "Would you have thought you could say that a year ago? I'm so proud of him."
Kessler's 12 blocks were a career high and set the tone early for one of Auburn's best defensive efforts of the season. Texas A&M didn't reach double digits in points until 5:14 left in the first half and shot just 27.1 percent (19-70) from the field for the game.
It was a slow start for the Tigers as well, but that changed when sophomore K.D. Johnson threw down a one-hand slam midway through the first half and energized the sold-out crowd at Auburn Arena. Prior to the dunk, Auburn was 4 of 16 from the field. The Tigers made 8 of 13 shots to close out the half and took a 33-18 lead into the intermission.
Johnson scored nine points in the first half and finished with 11. He was one of four Auburn players to score in double figures along with Kessler, Allen Flanigan and Devan Cambridge. Flanigan led the way with 16 points on 5 of 11 shooting.
It was a season high in points for Flanigan, the team's leading scorer a season ago who missed the first 11 games this year recovering from an Achilles injury.
"It felt great to just go out there and kind of get my groove back," Flanigan said. "But my teammates and coaches were a big part of that. They kept talking to me, and it gave me confidence to make the shots and just make plays. To not worry about the mistakes."
Cambridge scored 10 points and had three different dunks for the highlight reel. He got the behind the defense in the first half and threw down an alley-oop dunk from Wendell Green Jr. A few minutes later, he got out in transition and finished with a one-handed tomahawk slam. And he put down another alley-oop with one hand in the second half.
BOUNCEMAN!!!!! 😱😱😱😱😱😱
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It was a productive day for the bench as a whole as Dylan Cardwell had nine points and Jaylin Williams matched Kessler with a team-high 11 rebounds to go with five points.
Auburn also welcomed back point guard Zep Jasper who started and played 24 minutes Saturday after missing the last two games with an illness (non-COVID related).
"Zep brings the fire on defense," Flanigan said. "He's going to get up in you. He's going to play defense. He's going to move his feet and he's going to lock down whoever he's in front of every night."
With the win, the Tigers (22-2, 11-1) kept their lead atop the SEC standings. They will be back home Wednesday night to take on Vanderbilt at 8 p.m. CT.