Historical Beatdown In SEC Opener Reveals Conference’s Surprise Team — Auburn

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Bruce Pearl opened up his tenth season of SEC play as Auburn’s head coach in historical dominating fashion. No. 25 Auburn made history Saturday afternoon delivering a 32-point beatdown so severe that it was Arkansas’ worst home loss in Bud Walton Arena history, and it was the largest margin of victory over an SEC opponent in Pearl’s 42-year coaching career, as the Tigers humiliated the Razorbacks, 83-51.

After Auburn went into the locker room leading 37-30 at halftime, the Tigers flexed their muscles in the second half that is their depth.

In fact, their best player, 1st team All-SEC post man Johni Broome had as many points at halftime as @Hogballburner on X has brain cells — zilch, nada, nil, none.

The Auburn big man bounced back in the 2nd half and proved to be an unstoppable force, big-boy’ing the Razorbacks and finishing with 14 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks.

However, it was Auburn’s stifling defense that was the star of the show as the Tigers put the clamps on the Hawgs in the second half rarely affording Arkansas a clean look at the basket. After shooting 38% from the field before intermission, the Tigers held the Razorbacks to a paltry 22% from the floor in the second half.

With the win, Auburn moves their record to 12-2 overall and 1-0 in the SEC. Tigers will now come back home to Neville Arena where they’ll host Texas A&M on Tuesday night, January 9th at 8 PM CST on ESPN 2.

Pearl may have his deepest club yet on the Plains the past decade. The Tigers boast two-deep at each of the five positions and earlier this season had more players averaging 15-minutes per game than any other program in all of college hoops.

Going into the season, the Tigers were picked to finish sixth in the middle of a loaded SEC, but if Saturday’s SEC opener in Fayetteville was any indicator, Auburn may very well be the surprise team of the SEC this year.

In hindsight, the best thing to happen to Auburn is the road loss at Appalachian State when the Tigers fell, 69-64 on December 3rd.

Since that loss, the Tigers have reeled off seven consecutive wins, pummeling opponents by an average margin of victory of 25 points per game (!).

Sometimes it takes getting punched in the mouth to wake up and start playing the kind of ball as a team that Auburn knows it’s capable of playing.

The best teams in the country are the ones where the talent is matched by the chemistry. Auburn feels like this kind of team. It seems as though the individual talent on the roster has gained revelation that their teammates are going to bring out their best and it’s created a perfect synergy on a deep squad where players are battling one another for minutes creating an incredibly competitive environment, but at the same time they’re each other’s biggest fans.

The relationship between Auburn’s two-headed monster at point guard freshman Aden Holloway and sophomore Tre Donaldson is a perfect example of the kind of chemistry that Pearl’s blessed to have on this year’s team.

Love to see Auburn’s two point guards have this kind of synergy. Tre Donaldson & Aden Holloway have brought out the best in each other pic.twitter.com/c5S8Vuk4lk

— Power of Dixieland (@PwrofDixieland) January 6, 2024

It’s easy to tell that these two dudes are each other’s hype man and are constantly encouraging each other and building one another up. The dynamic point guards have figured out it’s not all about me; it’s all about we.

If Bruce’s boys continue to play with that kind of fire, effort, and togetherness, there’s nothing stopping Auburn but itself from advancing to its second Final Four in the last five years. After all, with Bruce Almighty leading the way, there’s nothing that these Tigers can’t accomplish IF “we” continues to come before “me.”