No. 2 Auburn rolls over No. 16 Purdue behind Broome's double-double

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 Auburn 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. One of the largest roars all game came during the run when Chad Baker-Mazara sent Fletcher Loyer’s shot into the stands under the basket. Every shot was contested. 

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 another 17-2 run to grow the lead to 33 (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.” 

Pettiford and Jones, Auburn’s two leading scorers after Broome, combined to shoot 13-of-25 from the field and dished out nine assists between them. For Pettiford, it was his sixth game in double figures, including all five games against ranked opponents. Jones has 10 games in double figures on the season, including four straight. 

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. 

POSTGAME NOTES

• With the win, Auburn evened the all-time series with Purdue to 2-2. The Tigers are now 1-1 under head coach Bruce Pearl against the Boilermakers as Purdue defeated Auburn, 96-71, in the 2016 Cancun Challenge.
• For the 10th-straiaght game, Auburn went with 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 12 games this season. Cardwell played in his 140th career game on Saturday, which surpassed former teammate Jaylin Williams’ school-record 139 career games played.
• The win marked Coach Pearl’s 211th win in his 11 seasons at Auburn, putting him two 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.
• Auburn improved to 4-1 against ranked opponents this season. The Tigers’ four ranked wins (No. 4 Houston, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 12 North Carolina and No. 16 Purdue) on the year match their total of regular season, non-conference wins over ranked opponents overall in program history prior to this season.
• The Tigers shot 54.5 percent overall (36-of-66) and 61.3 percent (19-of-31) in the second half of play versus Purdie. It marked the sixth time the Tigers have shot over 50 percent this season including the last two games when they shot 55.9 percent.
• Auburn went 10-of-26 from 3-point range as six Tigers made a shot from long range against Purdue. It was the seventh time Auburn has made double-double 3-pointers this season including the fourth time in the last five games during which the Tigers have gone 40.4 percent (55-of-136) from beyond the arc.
• The Tigers’ 87 points and 41 first-half points are the most Purdue has allowed this season. The Boilermakers allowed 84 points to Yale and 40 first-half points to Alabama and Penn State.
• AU recorded 24 assists on 36 made field goals, which is one assist off the Tigers’ season high of 25 assists against North Alabama, led by a career-high-tying six assists from Chad Baker-Mazara. The 24 assists are the most the Tigers have had against a ranked opponent under Coach Pearl. It was the fifth time Auburn has registered at least 23 assists this season.
• Auburn placed three players in double figures, led by Johni Broome, who recorded his 68th career double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds to go with two assists, one block and one steal against the Boilermakers. It was Broome’s seventh game of the season with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds. He has recorded a double-double in four of five games against ranked opponents this season and missed a double-double against Houston by one rebound. Against ranked opponents this season, Broome is averaging 21.4 points on 55.7 percent shooting, 12.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks.
• Freshman Tahaad Pettiford scored 18 points on 7-of-12 field goals and 2-of-4 3-pointers. It was Pettiford’s sixth game in double figures including all five games against ranked opponents. He is averaging 16.6 points and is 15-of-30 from 3-point range against ranked opponents. 
• Denver Jones posted his fourth-straight game in double figures and his 10th of the season with 15 points on 6-of-10 field goals and 3-of-6 three-pointers to go with four assists and one rebound versus Purdue. Jones is 15-of-26 (57.7 percent) from long range over his last four games. He went over 1,400 career points, finishing the day with 1,406 points to date.