AUBURN, Ala. – Jaylin Williams made the only two baskets for either team over the final eight minutes, including a dagger 3-pointer that secured a hard-fought 66-55 victory for No. 16 Auburn over Texas A&M Tuesday at Neville Arena, the Tigers' eighth consecutive win.
With Auburn leading 59-55 in the final minute, Williams hit a 3-pointer with 52 seconds to play, the game's only field goal in the last five and a half minutes.
"That's one of the biggest shots of my career, for sure," said Williams, "I practice that shot all the time. I had confidence in that one. Texas A&M beat me up pretty well the past few years."
Williams scored a game-high 22 points and led Auburn with eight rebounds in 35 minutes. His baseline reverse capped an 8-0 run that put Auburn ahead 54-48 with 5:45 to play.
The Aggies made 14 of 15 free throws in the second half and twice pulled within two points down the stretch, but Auburn made 16 of 19 free throws in the second half to preserve its lead.
K.D. Johnson scored 14 points while adding three rebounds and two assists with no turnovers. Johni Broome scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds, going 8-for-10 from the free-throw line in the second half. Tre Donaldson led Auburn with six assists.
Leading by eight at the half, Auburn struggled with turnovers early in the second half and the Aggies used a 6-0 run to take a two-point lead. Texas A&M's Henry Coleman had three old-fashioned 3-point plays in two minutes to temporarily quiet the crowd before Williams gave The Jungle a jolt with a slam after Johnson's assist.
"We knew if we moved the ball around, good things would happen," said Williams, who made 8 of 10 shots and was 5-for-5 from the free-throw line. "We knew if we stayed in front of those guards, they couldn't beat us."
Broome's only field goal gave Auburn the lead for good with 8:16 to play.
Auburn forced 19 turnovers and held Texas A&M without a field goal over the game's last 9 minutes and 15 seconds, encompassing 10 missed shots.
Coleman led the Aggies with 17 points. Auburn held A&M's leading scorer, Wade Taylor IV, to eight points on 2-of-16 shooting and 0-for-8 on 3-point attempts.
"I challenged my guards," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "I thought our guards did a tremendous job defensively. If we can continue to guard and get a little bit of offense from our defense, that's going to be the key to being consistently able to win each night."
Auburn outscored the Aggies 10-0 in the first half on fastbreak points to take a 30-22 lead into intermission.
Williams led Auburn with 11 points in the opening half, drawing a foul on a transition dunk that capped an 8-0 run and turned a three-point deficit into a five-point lead. Williams and Dylan Cardwell took turns assisting each other for points in the paint to give Auburn an eight-point lead late in the half.
The Tigers (13-2, 8-0) remain at Neville Arena Saturday when they host LSU at 5 p.m. CT on SEC Network and the Auburn Sports Network.
"This has been one of the hardest working teams that I've had," Pearl said. "We've put ourselves in position. We've got work to do."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME NOTES
» Tuesday night's win over Texas A&M was Auburn's second in the last seven games in the series.
» It was the 47th consecutive sellout at Neville Arena (9,121).
» With the win, it marked head coach Bruce Pearl's 186th career victory at Auburn, tying him for second on the school's career coaching wins list with former head coach Cliff Ellis, who led the Tigers to 186 wins in 10 seasons from 1994-2004. Former head coach Joel Eaves is the all-time leader with 213 career coaching victories in 14 seasons from 1949-63.
» Auburn improved to 13-2 on the season and won its eighth straight game with its victory over Texas A&M. It marks the Tigers' longest winning streak since winning the first eight games last season. It is the fourth time over the last seven seasons Auburn has started 13-2 or better. Prior to the 2017-18 season, the last time Auburn started 13-2 or better was the 2002-03 season when the Tigers started 15-2.
» Auburn has now started SEC play 2-0 for the fourth time in the last seven seasons. The Tigers opened conference play 4-0 in 2018, 3-0 in 2020 and 10-0 in 2022. Prior to 2018, Auburn started SEC play 2-0 just once over a 14-year period from 2004-17 with a 2-0 start in 2013. It was the first time since 2018 that the Tigers have opened SEC play with a pair of double-digit wins. In 2018, Auburn won each of its first three SEC games by at least 10 points.
» Auburn used the starting lineup of Aden Holloway, Denver Jones, Jaylin Williams, Johni Broome and Chris Moore for the 10th straight game. That group is 11-1 as a starting unit this season. Williams and Moore remain the only Tigers to start every game this season.
» With its 11-point win, all 13 of Auburn's wins this season have been by at least 13 points.
» The Tigers held Texas A&M to a season-low 22 first-half points. The Aggies' previous low was 23 points in the first half against No. 3 Houston.
» Auburn's 19 forced turnovers were a season high for the Tigers and a season high for Texas A&M. The Tigers' previous season high was 18 forced turnovers against Alabama State. The Aggies' previous season high was 16 turnovers at Virginia. Auburn turned the Aggies' turnovers into 17 points on the night.
» Auburn held Texas A&M without a field goal over the final 9:15 of the game as the Aggies missed their last 10 field-goal attempts.
» The Tigers also held Texas A&M to a 29.0 field-goal percentage on the night, which is the lowest Auburn has held an SEC opponent to since holding Tennessee to 27.0 percent shooting in Knoxville last season.
» Auburn outscored Texas A&M 26-6 in bench points, led by K.D. Johnson's 14 points.
» Jaylin Williams scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line to go with eight rebounds and three assists. It marked Williams' fourth 20-point game during Auburn's eight-game winning streak.
» K.D. Johnson's 14 points matched his season high. He added three rebounds, two assists and two steals in the win. It was Johnson's 56th career game in double figures and his fifth this season.
» Johni Broome scored 10 points, all in the second half, on 8-of-10 shooting from the free-throw line. He added seven rebounds, four blocks and two assists on the night. The eight made free throws tied a season high and was one off his career high. All 24 points Broome has scored in the first two SEC games of the season have come in the second half. He has 28 blocked shots in the last 10 games (2.8 blocks per game).
» Tre Donaldson set a season high with six assists against Texas A&M. His previous season high was five assists, which he has done three times.