Auburn Basketball: 3 Takeaways in Win Over Eastern Kentucky
Here we give our three takeaways as Auburn basketball beats Eastern Kentucky 85-64 Thursday night to move to 3-0 on the season.
Auburn basketball moves to 3-0 on the season as they beat Eastern Kentucky 85-64 at Auburn Arena on Thursday night.
The Tigers got out to a hot start, only to see Eastern Kentucky storm back and take the lead for most of the first half. However, Auburn came right back and took the lead just before halftime and continued to pull away in the second half.
It was good that Auburn basketball faced some adversity in this game, as things were tight for most of the night. They can build on that experience going forward.
There was a lot to like from this game, but here are the three things that stood out the most to me.
Aggressive Heron
I’ve been waiting on Mustapha Heron to break out, and this was the game. What I loved most about his performance Thursday night was that he was very aggressive in getting to the basket.
He was constantly driving to the basket, and forced a ton of fouls. He ended up shooting a game-high 13 free throw attempts – although he only hit seven of them.
I also said I wanted to see him become a more consistent shooter, well how is 8-of-8 from the field?
On top of that, he led the team with 10 rebounds, and leads the team in rebounds per game on the season.
He picked up his first double-double of the year finishing with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
Ronnie Johnson
Another piece of Auburn’s bench broke out Thursday night in senior transfer Ronnie Johnson. He’s now scored over 1,000 points in his collegiate career after putting up 13 points.
He also made the prettiest pass I’ve seen all season on a no-look bounce pass in transition to Mustapha Heron for an easy layup.
I wasn’t so sure how he would work out after watching the first two games, but he proved to me Thursday night that he’ll be another valuable piece of the second unit.
Press is On
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We’ve talked about it the first few games, but Bruce Pearl is really turning up the pressure this year on defense with the full-court press.
I thought it really worked to Auburn’s advantage Thursday as it wore down Eastern Kentucky in the second half. The press didn’t necessarily lead to a lot of turnovers, but it got the Colonels out of their offense and slowed them down.
Auburn basketball now has the depth to press other teams for most of the game, which obviously gives them a huge advantage.
I thought this was probably the most complete game that Auburn basketball has played this season, and it’s nice to see them getting better each time out.
War Eagle!