Auburn’s tough stretch without Isaac Okoro continued through the first half of Saturday’s 73-66 win for the Tigers over Tennessee. However, something had to give and Coach Bruce Pearl, known for striking the right chords, did it again.
“He kicked everybody out of the locker room but the players and we knew where he was coming from,” said guard Samir Doughty. “He was a certain way because we weren’t responding the way we were supposed to respond and we did in the second half.”
Pearl gave his team a lesson in tough love and it was motivating. Generally, halftimes are made for making adjustments, but he had to stoke the fire inside of his Tigers and when he did the results were very Auburn-like.
“The approach we changed was defensively,” said Pearl. “I lit into them and we got after Tennessee. We turned them over. Tennessee is comfortable with this group playing at a slow pace. We are better playing at a fast pace.”
Tennessee led 54-37 with 14:37 to play and Auburn dug in as the Tigers went on a 20-2 run where they scored 18 consecutive points.
Doughty was at the forefront as he scored eight points in the run, while freshmen Jaylin Williams and Devin Cambridge picked their games up immeasurably. Finally, the Tigers were all stepping up again and that was the key difference in the basketball game.
“One thing I talked to the team about is that we need a little more balance,” Pearl explained. “One thing about Auburn basketball is it’s not about one or two; it’s a whole team and we were getting too many guys who just weren’t contributing.”
It was a coming out party of sorts for Williams, who is an athletic presence and just needed to perform in a game with some success.
Cambridge has had his moments with a pair of 20-plus performances, so his comfort level was probably a little higher – that is, until Williams made the play of the game in throwing the ball off of the board, then going in and getting it an for a slam dunk when it appeared the Tennessee defense had him stopped.
“In high school, I got that three times, so it was something that just came natural,” said Williams. “I was thinking to throw up a floater, but he kind of cut me off and I just threw it off the backboard.”
Once the Tigers started to turn the Vols over, the layups and scores came in waves. Auburn scored 27 points off of 24 Tennessee turnovers as they claimed 15 points on 13 Vols’ miscues in the second half.
“I got after my team at halftime,” said Pearl. “I was very upset with our lack of effort and energy, our toughness. Tennessee had outplayed us.”
At some point, Auburn had to band together without Okoro.
It was like the Tigers were all waiting on each other to step up and then when no one did, whomever had the ball thought he had to put the others on his back and score. It was unneeded and added pressure that was unnecessary.
The second half showed this team’s dynamics as it had contributions coming from across the boards.
“We had nine players that played and nine players scored,” noted Pearl. “Al (Flanigan) played a little better. Devin played better and was out there in crucial moments making big shots. Jaylin played better. Those are freshmen; they are young kids and we are not going to win without them.”
Anfernee McLemore was also huge in the second half with his energy on defense which bothered Tennessee. He had a couple of key shots that extended the energy that Auburn built. He led his team with a plus-20 which defined his on-court presence.
Doughty finished with 22 points to lead the Tigers. He was a key part of Auburn’s 32 points in the paint as he and point guard J’Von McCormick were both able to get downhill in transition and more readily in the half court than in the first half.
“Finally in the second half, the way Samir Doughty and J’Von McCormick stepped up on both ends of the floor made the difference,” said Pearl. “It got us in transition and it got the tempo up which we play better at. It was important.”
