AUBURN, Ala. – No. 15 Auburn tuned up for Bruce Pearl's ninth season on the Plains by beating Alabama-Huntsville 87-69 in an exhibition Wednesday at Neville Arena.
Senior Jaylin Williams made the most of his 12 foul-plagued minutes, scoring 16 points on a perfect shooting night, going 6-for-6 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line.
"It helped me keep my energy up, staying locked in and focused," Williams said. "I'm just trying to play my game and do what I do."
"Jaylin Williams was terrific," Pearl said. "Great pop, great energy, making plays, bouncy."
Making their Auburn debuts, freshmen Yohan Traore and Tre Donaldson, and sophomore Johni Broome combined for 25 points and 12 rebounds.
Donaldson led Auburn with seven rebounds and scored 10 points, adding two assists and only one turnover in 17 minutes. The Tigers outrebounded UAH 42-28.
"Tre was super solid," Pearl said. "You could tell he's confident out there. He's got good command of the offense. He doesn't play like a freshman, he doesn't act like a freshman, he's got some toughness to him."
"He played with energy," Wendell Green Jr. said of his fellow point guard. "He got other people involved."
Allen Flanigan added 11 points, six rebounds, three steals and a team-high four assists.
"Seeing Al healthy, seeing his athleticism and making plays, that was really good," Pearl said. "Al was so productive. He was able to get downhill, score through contact. He was effective defensively."
Green contributed 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.
"You get all the nerves out," Green said. "Playing in front of The Jungle again. You'll be more relaxed and more excited on Monday. That was the key tonight, to get all the nerves out and move to the next day."
Broome made a steal and passed to Zep Jasper, who served up an alley-oop back to Broome to break a 17-17 tie.
Flanigan drove baseline and threw down an energetic dunk in a 7-0 run that put Auburn ahead 29-21.
Green hit a pair of 3-pointers to lead the Tigers with eight first-half points.
Auburn built a 15-point lead late in the half on a corner 3-pointer from Jasper.
As promised, Pearl substituted regularly, with 11 Tigers playing at least four minutes in the half helping Auburn lead 46-32 at intermission.
The visiting Chargers got within nine early in the second half before the Tigers extended their lead to 22 in the closing minutes.
Auburn enjoyed a 53-13 advantage in bench points and made 15 steals en route to a 31-13 edge in points off turnovers.
"Our strength is our depth," Pearl said. "We've got to make more open shots. Turning them over 25 times was good."
Auburn tips off the 2022-23 season Monday when George Mason visits Neville Arena at 7 p.m. CT.
"We've just got to continue to get better," Pearl said. "We'll have to be a lot better to beat George Mason on Monday."
UAH POSTGAME NOTES
>> Auburn went with the starting five of Wendell Green Jr., Zep Jasper, Chris Moore, Yohan Traore and Dylan Cardwell. It was the unofficial first career starts for Moore, a junior forward who has played in 50 career games for the Tigers, and Traore, a freshman forward from Tours, France.
>> The Tigers are now 8-1 all-time in exhibition games during the Bruce Pearl Era.
>> Auburn and UAH met for the first time in both program's history. Both teams reached the NCAA Division I and Division II Tournaments a year ago.
>> UAH Head Coach John Shulman and Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl previously coached in the state of Tennessee prior to their current school – UT Chattanooga (2004-13) and Tennessee (2005-11) respectively.
>> Senior forward Jaylin Williams led all scorers with a game-high 16 points going perfect from the field (6-for-6), beyond the three-point arc (1-for-1) and free throw line (3-for-3) versus UAH.
>> The Tigers outrebounded the Chargers, 42-28.
>> Freshman Tre Donaldson came off the bench and recorded 10 points and a game-high seven rebounds in his unofficial collegiate debut.
>> AU also made 15 steals including three from senior guard Allen Flanigan. In 2021-22, the team's single-game season high in the category was 16 vs. Nebraska on Dec. 11, 2021.
