The Auburn Tigers won again on Tuesday night, although the path to victory was a tad more difficult than recent games.
Auburn outlasted the Texas A&M Aggies in a gritty, offensively sloppy battle at Neville Arena.
The 66-55 final score doesn’t indicate how close Auburn’s 13th win of the season actually was, as Buzz Williams’ Aggies held the lead late in the second half before once again going cold from the field.
Both teams’ starts failed to score in the first half of the SEC battle, with Wade Taylor IV and Johni Broome struggling from the field all night long.
Still, the Tigers were able to score just enough to offset turnover and rebounding issues against an elite A&M defense.
Guard K.D Johnson and forward Jaylin Williams heavily carried Auburn’s offense all night. Williams’ 22 points led all scorers in the game, while Johnson’s 14 points off the bench were crucial especially considering the aforementioned Broome was shut down by Henry Coleman III and the Aggies.
While Auburn played well enough to win, the story of the game was Wade Taylor IV’s horrendous shooting night.
The Tigers came into the game playing well on the defensive end against opposing guards but Taylor IV’s 2/18 from the field and 0/8 from 3-point range was very surprising from the preseason SEC Player of the Year.
Taylor IV’s rough shooting night paved the way for Buzz Williams’ team to shoot under 30% from the field for the second SEC game in a row.
The Aggies offensive struggles are very concerning for a team with NCAA Tournament aspirations, as they are now 0-2 in the conference and and are going to need to score on Saturday when they host Kentucky.
As for Auburn, the 16th-ranked Tigers are now 2-0 in the SEC and 13-2 overall. Bruce Pearl and company should be heavily favored to move to 3-0 in the conference when they host LSU in Neville Arena on Saturday.
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