BIRMINGHAM – Any doubts about Johni Broome’s shoulder coming into Saturday were quickly erased when the Auburn big man drained a 3-pointer in the first two minutes of the game.
Broome finished with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds, his eighth double-double of the season, to lead No. 2 Auburn past No. 16 Purdue 87-69 in front of 15,335 at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. He was one of three Tigers in double figures as freshman Tahaad Pettiford poured in 18 points and Denver Jones added 15.
“That first 3, I feel like that kind of gave me a little extra kick,” Broome said. “I was still kind of unsure because I had not gone full speed in a game yet. Coming out and hitting my first 3 and seeing how the crowd reacted to it, it made me feel better about myself.”
When Broome checked out of the game with 5:51 remaining, he got a standing ovation from the pro-Auburn crowd.
“The Jungle travels,” Broome said. “It just makes us play harder because they come from all over the world. They make the drive, they make flights. It’s special to see how many people come support us and come watch us.”
For Broome, it was his seventh game this season with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds. Against ranked opponents, the senior is averaging 21.4 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game.
For Auburn, it was the sixth Quad 1 win of the season, tops in the nation, and the fourth top 25 victory, which matches the Tigers' total regular-season, non-conference wins over ranked teams in program history prior to this season.
“We beat a good basketball team, but we beat a great basketball program,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. “I’m really proud of our league. I was concerned about the toughness of our schedule. If we couldn’t handle it, we could’ve hurt our league. But we didn’t. We helped our league, and that matters to me a great deal.
“I want to thank the Auburn Family again for turning out in front of national television audience and giving our guys a great environment. It was like Neville Arena at times.”
Auburn was outstanding once again offensively, shooting 54.5 percent from the field and dishing out 24 assists on 36 made baskets, but it was the defense that carried the day Saturday.
With the game tied 15-15 through the first seven minutes, the Tigers held Purdue to just two points over the next seven minutes and went on a 16-2 run. The run started with an alley-oop dunk from Dylan Cardwell bringing the Auburn fans to their feet, but one of the largest roars all game came a few minutes later when Chad Baker-Mazara sent Fletcher Loyer’s shot into the stands under the basket.
After starting 5-of-7 from the field, Purdue finished the first half 10-of-30 and scored just 11 points over the final 12 minutes. Auburn took advantage and built a 41-26 lead at the break.
“We pride ourselves on our defense,” Broome said. “We make everything hard. Braden Smith is a really good point guard, so we tried to get after him a little bit and make him pass the ball. They have a good big man inside, so we tried to front him and make his catches harder. I thought we did a great job of that.”
It was more of the same in the second half as the Tigers used a 17-2 run to grow the lead to 33 points (72-39) at one point. Purdue shot just 39 percent from the field for the game, and Smith, the Big 10 Preseason Player of the Year, finished with eight points on 3-of-12 shooting and turned it over five times.
“You can control your outcome with how you defend,” Pearl said. “I just thought we did a better job of making it difficult for Purdue. They’re better from 3 than they are from 2. We made them make tough 2s. They made some, but they missed enough.
“I thought our guys did a pretty good job of taking care of the basketball and playing unselfishly," added Pearl. "When you shoot 55 percent against a Purdue basketball team, you’ve got really good players, and the guys are running really good stuff.”
Broome, Pettiford and Jones – all three of Auburn’s leading scorers – shot over 50 percent from the field. Pettiford, who was 7-of-12 on field goals and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, has now scored in double figures in six games this season, including all five games against ranked opponents.
Pettiford (5), Jones (4), Baker-Mazara (6) and Chaney Johnson (5) all had four or more assists on the day.
Auburn (11-1) will get a nine-day break for the holidays before returning to Neville Arena on Dec. 30 to play Monmouth in the final tune-up before SEC play begins.