HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Playing away from home again, Auburn picked up right where it left off Saturday with another impressive performance Wednesday night to beat UNC Asheville 87-62 at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Offense carried the day against Indiana on Saturday. This time, it was the defense that took over midway through the first half and early in the second half, helping the Tigers pull away.
"We turned up the defense," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "When you play like that and you play that hard, it's the ultimate sign of being unselfish. I thought we got some offense from our defense. We came out of the start of the second half, executed better and really took control of the game."
The second unit, specifically, stepped up for Auburn on Wednesday.
Tre Donaldson scored a career-high 15 points off the bench. Chad Baker-Mazara knocked down three 3-pointers in a three-minute span during the second half and finished with 11 points, all in the second half. He also led the team with a career-high seven rebounds. And K.D. Johnson and Dylan Cardwell provided a spark on both ends of the court.
"We take pride in that role," Donaldson said. "Just being the energy guys coming off the bench and not allowing a drop-off from the first group to the second group. We take pride in it. Me, K.D. and Chad, we're just energy guys. It's just us being ourselves."
As soon as Johnson checked into the game, he got a steal and took it the other way for a one-handed dunk. On the very next possession, Cardwell threw down an alley-oop from Donaldson. The duo scored 10 straight Auburn points after checking in. Both finished with six points, contributing to the 51 points scored off the bench for Auburn – a season high.
While all 11 players in the rotation scored for the Tigers, Donaldson and Baker-Mazara were the only two to score in double figures.
"I think that just speaks on the depth of our team," said junior guard Denver Jones, who added nine points in what was a homecoming of sorts. "I feel like it was a great team win. Once we locked in on defense, we started controlling the tempo a little bit."
As a team, Auburn shot 53.1 percent from the floor. More impressively, the Tigers only turned the ball over seven times. After tying the school record with just three turnovers Saturday, Auburn has now gone back-to-back games with single-digit turnovers for the first time since they did it against Iowa and Houston in last year's NCAA Tournament.
"We're just taking care of the ball," Donaldson said. "Making the right plays, not doing too much, not doing too little. Just making the right basketball plays."
But it was the defense that ultimately turned Wednesday's game. Trailing 21-19 midway through the first half, the Tigers went on a 20-3 run and held UNC Asheville to just eight points over the final 9:30 to take a 39-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.
It was more of the same in the second half as Auburn held the Bulldogs to just one field goal over a six-minute span during what was a 16-7 run to make it 79-48 – the largest lead of the game. The run included five points from Lior Berman.
For Auburn, it was the third straight game away from home and the sixth this season, but there were plenty of Auburn fans in the building to cheer on the Tigers.
"I appreciated all the support," Pearl said. "We've been trying to get to Huntsville for a few years now. We've got some of the best Auburn fans in Huntsville. We really do. It was great."
Auburn (7-2) will be back home Sunday for a showdown against USC in Neville Arena. It will be the first of four straight home games for the Tigers. Tipoff is set for noon CT.
UNC ASHEVILLE POSTGAME NOTES
>> Tre Donaldson led Auburn with a career-high 15 points on 6-of-8 field goals and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line to go with two assists in the win over UNC Asheville. He scored in double figures in three straight games for the first time of his career. Over the stretch, Donaldson has averaged 12.3 points and 3.3 assists and committed a total of three turnovers.
>> Chad Baker-Mazara scored 11 points, all in the second half, and added a career-high seven rebounds. He was 3-of-3 from behind the 3-point line and 2-of-2 from the free throw line against UNC Asheville. Baker-Mazara has made 13 straight free throws.
>> Auburn is off to a 7-2 start to the season. It is the sixth time in the last seven seasons the Tigers have started 7-2 or better.
>> Eleven Tigers scored in a game for the second time this season and the first time since doing so against Alabama A&M on Nov. 21.
>> Wednesday night's game against UNC Asheville was Auburn's sixth game away from Neville Arena in the first nine games of the season. The Tigers are 4-2 in those games.
>> After tying a program record with just three turnovers against Indiana on Dec. 9, Auburn committed just seven turnovers Wednesday night against UNC Asheville. It was the first time the Tigers have committed single-digit turnovers in consecutive games since last year's NCAA Tournament when they had just seven turnovers against Iowa in the first round and followed it up with only eight turnovers against Houston in the second round. Auburn has had three single-digit turnover totals in the last four games and averaged just 7.0 turnovers during that span.
>> Auburn set season highs with 51 bench points, 50 points in the paint and 23 fast-break points against UNC Asheville. The Tigers' previous season highs were 49 bench points against Alabama A&M, 42 points in the paint against Virginia Tech and Appalachian State, and 20 fast-break points against Alabama A&M and Indiana.
>> AU shot 65.5 percent (19-of-29) from the floor in the second half, including 5-of-10 from long range. It marked a new season high for field-goal percentage in a half for the Tigers, topping their previous best of 54.8 percent (17-of-31) in the first half against St. Bonaventure.
>> Auburn was 12-of-15 from the free throw line against UNC Asheville. The Tigers are 32-of-38 (84.2 percent) from the charity stripe over the last two games, after going 20-of-23 from the line in their win over Indiana.
>> AU recorded 19 assists on 34 made field goals against UNC Asheville. It is the sixth time in nine games this season the Tigers have had at least 19 assists and they have had at least 17 assists in all but one game. For the season, Auburn has assisted on 67.1 percent (173-of-258) of its field goals.
>> The Tigers committed a season-low 16 fouls against UNC Asheville. Auburn's previous low was 17 fouls against Alabama A&M and St. Bonaventure.