AUBURN, Ala. – On a day where most of the other SEC unbeaten teams fell, No. 16 Auburn has a chance to be the only one left standing following a 93-78 victory over LSU in a sold-out Neville Arena on Saturday.
It marked the ninth straight win for Auburn who moves to 3-0 in league play for the first time since 2020 and 14-2 overall.
Chad Baker-Mazara led the home Tigers with 19 points, setting a new high at Auburn, and made a significant impact on the defensive end as well with a career-high five steals.
"It felt good," Baker-Mazara said. "Just being out there hitting shots, being able to help my team in many ways. It's a great feeling, especially a season high with Auburn. I'm still trying to get a little bit more, but it will come."
The junior college transfer has provided energy off the bench all season, and Saturday was no different as he and the second unit came into the game and turned three quick steals into seven straight points to put Auburn up 18-12 early. Baker-Mazara finished 5-of-10 from the field, knocking down three 3-pointers, and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
As a team, Auburn racked up a season-high 15 steals and turned 16 LSU turnovers into 24 points. It was the most steals Auburn has had in a conference game since it had 18 steals in a home win over Tennessee in February 2020.
"If you just have Chad Baker-Mazara on the floor, that's three or four (steals) before you even get started," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "Just Chad's length and his IQ – he's a problem out there. He's so versatile offensively. The fact that he knocked down three 3s tonight. He shot a good percentage. I trust him as a playmaker and obviously trust him defensively."
Baker-Mazara was one of four Auburn players to score in double figures against LSU along with Johni Broome, Aden Holloway and Tre Donaldson.
Broome finished with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and tied Jaylin Williams for the team lead in rebounds with seven. He's now scored 10 or more points in seven straight games and 14 of Auburn's 16 games on the season. In his last seven games, he is averaging 15.9 points and 8.3 rebounds and is shooting 55.4 percent from the floor.
Holloway and Donaldson, Auburn's point guard duo, tallied 13 and 10 points respectively. Holloway had the hot hand early, knocking down two 3s in the first four minutes, and it was Donaldson's 3-point play in the final minutes that helped close out the game.
Auburn led by as many as 28 points midway through the second half after going on a 10-0 run with its second unit, but LSU closed the gap with a 21-2 run of its own and got it under 10 points for the first time since the first half.
Needing a spark, it was Baker-Mazara who drilled a 3-pointer to bring the energy back to Neville Arena and put Auburn ahead 78-66.
"I feel like after that 3 it kind of killed their energy," Baker-Mazara said. "The whole crowd, everybody got really excited and really hyped."
Between Baker-Mazara, Donaldson, K.D. Johnson, Dylan Cardwell and Chaney Johnson, Auburn's second unit finished with 49 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists, nine steals and six blocks off the bench. Cardwell had five blocks alone, setting a new career high.
"That kind of won us the game today," Holloway said of the second group. "We'll get a slight lead, but when CB's (Baker-Mazara) group comes in, they just blow out the lead to 18 or 20. It just makes it easier for us. I give them a bunch of credit."
"It's getting really obvious that our second group coming in is really effective defensively and turning people over and playing with a different level of effort and energy and effectiveness," added Pearl.
With the win, Pearl moved past Cliff Ellis into second on Auburn's career head coaching wins list with 187 wins. Joel Eaves is first with 213 victories.
Auburn (14-2, 3-0) will leave the friendly confines of Neville Arena this week and travel to the Music City for a showdown at Vanderbilt on Wednesday night.
LSU POSTGAME NOTES
» Auburn has now won three straight and five of the last seven games in the series with LSU. The Tigers lead the series 40-35 in games played on The Plains including a 6-3 mark at Neville Arena where they have won four straight in the series.
» With the win, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl improved to 12-7 lifetime against LSU including 7-4 while coaching Auburn and 4-2 in games played at Neville Arena. It was Pearl's 187th victory at Auburn, moving him past former head coach Cliff Ellis, who led the Tigers to 186 wins in 10 seasons from 1994-2004, into second on Auburn's career coaching wins list. Joel Eaves is first with 213 victories in 14 seasons from 1949-63.
» Auburn improved to 14-2 overall on the season. It is the fourth time in the last seven seasons the Tigers have started 14-2 or better. Prior to the 2017-18 season, the last time Auburn started at least 14-2 was the 2002-03 season when the Tigers started 15-2.
» The Tigers also improved to 3-0 in SEC play for the fourth time in the last seven years. They opened league play 4-0 in 2018, 3-0 in 2020 and 10-0 in 2022.
» Auburn has now won nine consecutive games, which is the Tigers' longest win streak since winning 19 straight games during the 2021-22 season.
» AU improved to 107-32 as a ranked team under head coach Bruce Pearl including 62-4 at Neville Arena. The Tigers are 97-24 as a ranked team versus unranked opponents including 56-3 at home under Pearl.
» Auburn went with the same starting lineup of Aden Holloway, Denver Jones, Jaylin Williams, Johni Broome and Chris Moore for the 11th straight game. That group is 12-1 as a starting unit this season. Williams and Moore remain the only Tigers to start every game this season.
» Auburn's 51 first-half points are the Tigers' most points in the first half of an SEC game since scoring 51 points against Alabama on Feb. 1, 2022.
» All 14 of AU's victories this season have been by at least 11 points and by an average of 21.8 points.
» Auburn has now won its first three SEC games by double digits for the first time since 2018. That season, the Tigers won at No. 23 Tennessee 94-84, knocked off No. 22 Arkansas 88-77 at Neville Arena, and won at Ole Miss 85-70.
» Tonight marked Auburn's 48th consecutive sellout at Neville Arena (9,121).
» Auburn made 10-of-25 from 3-point range in its win over LSU. It was the Tigers' fifth game with double-digit 3-pointers this season and their first in a SEC game since making 12 3-pointers including 10 in regulation at Alabama last season.
» After starting the game 5-of-8 from the free-throw line, the Tigers made 22 of their final 23 foul shots to finish 27-of-31 from the charity stripe on the night. Auburn has shot 80.9 percent (169-of-209) from the free-throw line during its nine-game winning streak.
» Auburn scored 24 points off 16 LSU turnovers after scoring 17 points off 19 Texas A&M turnovers in the last game. The 24 points off turnovers are the second-most for Auburn this season (30 vs. Virginia Tech). On the night, the Tigers recorded 15 steals, which was the fourth-most steals under head coach Bruce Pearl. It was Auburn's most steals since recording 16 steals against Nebraska in 2021 and its most in an SEC game since registering 18 against Tennessee in 2020.
» Auburn committed only eight turnovers in the win over LSU. It was the Tigers' eighth game this season with single-digit turnovers, all in the last 11 games. Auburn has a +7.3 turnover ratio in SEC play.
» Auburn scored 49 bench points, which is two off the Tigers' season high of 51 bench points against UNC Asheville. It was Auburn's seventh game this season with at least 40 bench points including the second time in three SEC games after scoring 46 bench points at Arkansas.
» Chad Baker-Mazara led four Auburn players in double figures with an Auburn career-high 19 points on 5-of-10 field goals, 3-of-4 3-pointers and 6-of-6 from the foul line. He added a career-high five steals, three assists, two rebounds and one blocked shot. Baker-Mazara has led Auburn in scoring in two of its first three SEC games after leading the Tigers with 16 points at Arkansas.
» Johni Broome scored 18 points on 6-of-12 field goals, 1-of-1 3-pointers and 5-of-6 free throws to go with seven rebounds, three steals and one assist. His third field goal of the game was the 700th of his career. Broome ended the night with 703 career field goals. It was Broome's 97th career game in double figures including 14 this season and seventh straight. Over his last seven games, Broome is averaging 15.9 points and 8.3 rebounds and is shooting 55.4 percent from the floor.
» Aden Holloway finished the night with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, and added three assists, one rebound and one steal and only one turnover in the win over LSU. It was Holloway's seventh game in double figures this season including five against power conference opponents.
» Tre Donaldson scored 10 points on 3-of-5 field goals and 4-of-4 free throws to go with three rebounds, three assists and two steals and only one turnover on the night. He has scored in double figures in two of Auburn's first three SEC games after scoring 11 points in the SEC opener at Arkansas.
