What to watch for: GA Southern
November 5, 2019
Jay Phillips
Auburn will tip-off the 2019-20 basketball season tonight against Georgia Southern, and there are a few things worth watching that could help us judge how good this Auburn team will be early on.
Quick preview: Georgia Southern is coming off of a second place finish in the Sun Belt after winning 21 games last season. They lost their best player, Tookie Brown, to graduation and Brown’s most likely replacement, Quan Jackson, is listed as questionable.
However, Georgia Southern is athletic and has good size. They could give the Tigers a tough night with how many newcomers Auburn is still breaking in, but Auburn is still favored by double digits.
Win or lose tonight, there are a couple of things I’m hoping to see, and not see, with Davidson coming this Friday.
What we need to see: Consistent scoring.
Last year Auburn had Jared Harper, Bryce Brown and Chuma Okeke to look to when there was a scoring drought, and Auburn has to replace all three this season.
Danjel Purifoy, Austin Wiley and Samir Doughty seem like the most obvious choices, and all three had great showings in Auburn’s exhibition.
If Auburn looks good on offense and has players step up, the Tigers will be a more favorable pick when it comes to playing against Davidson and other non conference opponents.
What we want to see: Newcomers stepping up.
Devan Cambridge and Isaac Okoro played great games (for the most part) against Eckerd, however Auburn will need contributions from across the board to keep it going.
Jamaal Johnson and Tyrell Jones are two players I expected to see more from in the exhibition.
I think both players can be great scorers when they get hot from three, so the game plan of getting Purifoy, Doughty and McCormick settled into their new roles against an inferior team might have hurt their chances a little.
What we don’t want to see: Georgia Southern dominating the offensive glass.
In the past two seasons, when Wiley has been hurt or suspended and when McLemore was hurt, teams beating Auburn on the glass became commonplace, and Auburn found ways to win in spite of that.
The Tigers might still be able to win that way, but with the size and depth they have down low they should win the rebound battle a lot more often.
Auburn won the battle against Eckerd 48-38, but the Tigers gave up 18 offensive rebounds in the process.
The only time Auburn gave up more than 15 offensive rebounds last year was when they gave up 20 against LSU’s behemoth front court in Baton Rouge.
What we can’t afford to see: Foul trouble.
Auburn got into a little bit of foul trouble against Eckerd, with Okoro picking up four fouls in 20 minutes, and Wiley and McLemore have both been foul-prone in the past. McLemore even led the SEC in total fouls last year.
Luckily, McLemore and Wiley are aided by the additions of players like Babatunde Akingbola and Jaylin Williams, making foul trouble in the front court a little less worrisome.
Davidson is going to be a high powered team with multiple guards (and wings) who can hurt the Tigers.
Doughty and Okoro will have to play stout defense if Auburn hopes to slow down the likes of Jon Axel Gudmundsson (16.9 points per game in 2018-19) and Kellan Grady (17.3 points per game in 2018-19).
If either of Auburn’s stud perimeter defenders get into foul trouble, it could be a long night for their backups.
Auburn starts the season slated to face Georgia Southern tonight and Davidson and South Alabama (both potential NCAA tournament teams) in the next week.
