Off the chain: Johnson leads No. 2 Auburn over Georgia State

AUBURN, Ala. – With one big man in foul trouble and the other on the bench icing a sore shoulder, Chaney Johnson stepped in and stepped up to lead No. 2 Auburn over Georgia State 100-59 Tuesday at sold-out Neville Arena.

“Chaney Johnson was dominant,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “I’m really proud of him. Nobody works harder than Chaney. (Assistant coach) Ira Bowman is in the gym with him all the time. He’s got a really nice inside-out game.”

Johnson scored 26 points and made 12 of 14 shots, his most prolific scoring performance at Auburn, adding eight rebounds and four assists. 

“It’s a great feeling,” Johnson said. “I’m playing behind two of the best bigs in the country. It was a great feeling to get on the court a little more than usual and perform.”

SEC Player of the Week Johni Broome exited after two minutes with an injury and Dylan Cardwell played only six minutes in the first half after picking up his third foul.

“His right shoulder came out and came right back,” Pearl said. “He did it a year ago, so he’s had some experience with it. We’ll know a lot more tomorrow. I hope he’s going to be okay.”

Chad Baker-Mazara added 19 points and went 11-for-11 from the free-throw line. Baker-Mazara led Auburn with six assists. Denver Jones made 5 of 7 3-pointers and scored 17 points.

“Just staying the course,” said Jones, who’s shooting 44 percent (22 of 50) from 3-point range this season. “Coming to the gym, staying consistent with my work ethic and it’s finally paying off.”

Leading by 12 at the half, Auburn pushed its lead to 20 thanks to an early 11-0 run that featured a Jones 3-pointer and two buckets after steals. The Tigers outscored the Panthers 57-28 in the second half. 

“To have a 31-point spread in the second half against a good Sun Belt team that’s going to compete for that championship with Arkansas State, Troy and a couple other teams, it’s good,” Pearl said. “Our guys respected our opponent.”

Auburn forced 20 turnovers while committing 11, yielding a resounding 30-9 edge in points off turnovers. 

Jones added two more 3s on assists from Cardwell before Johnson brought the crowd to its feet by slamming home a lob from Baker-Mazara. 

Johnson continued to play above the rim, grabbing a defensive rebound and going coast-to-coast for a thunderous dunk, then adding another slam on an assist from Baker-Mazara. 

Baker-Mazara’s final pair of free throws gave Auburn a 30-point lead before the last media timeout. 

JP Pegues buried a 3-pointer to help Auburn reach the century mark as the Tigers ended the game with an 11-0 run in the last 2 minutes that also featured 3s from Chris Moore and Jahki Howard. 

Johnson filled the stat sheet in the first half with 13 points, six rebounds and four assists, making his first five shots. 

Tahaad Pettiford made the first-half highlights with two steals and flashy finishes, a right-handed slam and a right-handed reverse layup. 

Johnson’s old-fashioned 3-point play in the final minute gave Auburn a 43-31 halftime lead. 

Seeking to improve to 6-0 this season at neutral sites, Auburn (10-1) plays No. 16 Purdue Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CT on ESPN and the Auburn Sports Network. 

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer

POSTGAME NOTES

• With the win, Auburn now leads the 8-1 all-time series against Georgia State. The Tigers are 7-1 against the Panthers on their home court including 3-0 in Neville Arena.
• Head Coach Bruce Pearl improves to 3-0 versus Georgia State with all three meetings coming during his tenure on The Plains. 
• The win marked Coach Pearl’s 210th victory in his 11 seasons at Auburn, putting him three wins behind Joel Eaves, who won 213 games in 14 seasons as the Tigers’ head coach, for the most career coaching wins in program history.
• For the ninth-straight game, Auburn used the starting lineup of Denver Jones, Miles Kelly, Chad Baker-Mazara, Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell. Jones, Baker-Mazara, Broome and Cardwell have started all 11 games this season.
• Auburn has now won 59 consecutive home non-conference games.
• The Tigers played before a sold-out crowd of 9,121 for the 60th consecutive time at Neville Arena.
• Auburn has recorded three wins by at least 40 points in a season for the third time in program history – 94-43 over Vermont, 98-54 over Richmond and 100-59 over Georgia State. The Tigers’ three 40+-point victories are the third most in a single season in program history. The 1998-99 and 2018-19 Tigers both had four 40-point wins.
• AU cracked the 100-point mark for the second time this season (102 points vs. North Alabama). The Tigers have scored at least 90 points in three-straight games and four of the last five.
• Auburn scored 57 points in the second half, the most points for the Tigers in any half this season. The Tigers shot 69.2 percent (18-of-26) overall in the second half including 6-of-11 from long range. They also went 15-of-20 from the foul line after halftime. Auburn shot 57.4 percent (35-of-61) for the game, the fifth time the Tigers have shot 50 percent this season. 
• The Tigers scored a season-best 50 bench points against Georgia State. Their previous high was 47 bench points against Vermont. 
• After holding Georgia State to 59 points, Auburn has now held five opponents to under 60 points this season including the last three contests.
• Auburn set season highs with 20 turnovers forced and 30 points off turnovers. The Tigers’ previous season highs were 16 turnovers forced versus Vermont and 26 points off turnovers against North Alabama. Auburn also set a season high with 11 steals, topping the Tigers’ 10 steals against Vermont and Richmond.
• Auburn placed three players in double figures, led by Chaney Johnson, who scored an Auburn career-high 26 points on 12-of-14 field goals to go with eight rebounds, a season-high-tying four assists and a season-high two steals against the Panthers.
• Chad Baker-Mazara scored in double figures for the ninth time this season including the eighth time in the last nine games. He turned in a season-high 19 points and added a season-best six assists, four rebounds and one steal. Baker-Mazara went 11-of-11 from the free throw line, moving his streak to 35-consecutive made free throws (his second attempt after going 1-for-2 against North Alabama on Nov. 18), which breaks Wendell Green Jr.’s school record of 34-consecutive free throws during the 2022-23 season. 
• Denver Jones scored 17 points on a season-best 5-of-7 three-pointers. It was the ninth time Jones has scored in double figures this season.
• Johni Broome tied Frank Tolbert for 23rd on Auburn’s career scoring list with 1,242 points. 
• Dylan Cardwell’s two blocked shots moved him ahead of Horace Spencer for fifth on Auburn’s career blocked shots list with 171 blocks to date. Cardwell played in his 139th career game, which tied Jaylin Williams for the most games played in program history.
• JP Pegues surpassed the 1,100 career scoring mark with his 3-pointer with 29 seconds remaining in the game, finishing the night with 1,101 points.