Auburn Pre-Game Thread

[IUFLA]

When: Saturday, December 9th 2 PM EST

Where: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia 

TV: ESPN 2 

Bruce Pearl (10th season at Auburn 192-113) brings his 5-2 Tigers (Kenpom #17) to State Farm Arena in Atlanta to face our Hoosiers. Auburn has beaten Southeastern Louisiana (Kenpom #252), Notre Dame (#170), St Bonaventure (#84), Alabama A&M (#348), and Virginia Tech (#68), while losing to Baylor (#7), and, in there last game, Appalachian St (#87).

The Tigers are led by 6'10 senior center Johni Broome. Broome is long and fairly athletic, and will shoot it from 3 (27%).

He's joined in the starting lineup by 6'1 freshman guard Aden Holloway (11 ppg 35% from 3), his backcourt mate is 6'4 junior Denver Jones (7 ppg 36% from 3). Joining Broome in the frontcourt are 6'8 senior forward Javlin Williams (8 ppg 6 rpg 29% from 3) and 6'6 senior Chris Moore (3 ppg 20% from 3).

6'7 junior Chad Baker-Mazara provides firepower off the bench (8 ppg) and Tre Donaldson, KD Johnson, 6'11 Dylan Caldwell, and Chaney Johnson also see double digit minutes off the bench.

Auburn is long and athletic, and, as all Bruce Pearl teams seem to do, play defense, foul a lot, and play hard. Not a real good 3 point shooting bunch, but they do launch a lot of them compared to us (23 per game) but aren't high percentage as a team (30%).

I have no doubt this will be a physical game. Watching some of their games, they remind me of Louisville except, like us, they focus on getting the ball to their bigs, and they have a better coach 🙂.

I think we matchup pretty well with them. Gabe has to stay in front of Holloway just like he did with McDaniel, and Kel'el has to win the battle down low with a quality Big in Broome. If Mac, Gunn, and Banks can continue their growth, we can win this one...

Go Hoosiers! 

Edited December 7, 2023 by IUFLA

[rico]

I wanted Broome a few years back when he entered the portal from Morehead St.  

[IUCrazy2]

Any word on when we might expect Johnson back?

[Parakeet Jones]

Looking forward to this one.  I would really love for us to pick up a non conference win like this.  That's the kind of thing that helps come March. 

Michigan was  a great win, but I will stop short of saying we played great.  Thankfully we cleaned up the turnovers in the 2nd half, we need a full 40 minutes like that Saturday.  We need to not miss 458 layups as well.  

This game is fully in our grasp to win, hopefully they bring it home. 

[HoosierMama]

2 minutes ago, IUCrazy2 said:

Any word on when we might expect Johnson back?

I listened to part of the pregame show on Tuesday and I thought I heard 2-3 weeks although I think it was a high level estimate and nothing definitive.

[IUFLA]

6 minutes ago, Parakeet Jones said:

Looking forward to this one.  I would really love for us to pick up a non conference win like this.  That's the kind of thing that helps come March. 

Michigan was  a great win, but I will stop short of saying we played great.  Thankfully we cleaned up the turnovers in the 2nd half, we need a full 40 minutes like that Saturday.  We need to not miss 458 layups as well.  

This game is fully in our grasp to win, hopefully they bring it home. 

No, we didn't play as well as we could have, but under the circumstances (XJ out, road game) I was encouraged by the fact that even though our starting backcourt didn't contribute much offensively, we were still able to pull it out. We know what Trey CAN do, he just has to start doing it... I think Gabe will improve every game... And if CJ can just start gaining some consistency with his shot, look out...

And I only counted 457 missed bunnies 😉

[DWB]

Looks like Auburn hits the offensive glass pretty hard, as well. So if we don't block out, they could get an abundant amount of 2nd chances.

Broome is the real deal, but I think Ware has more talent. Question is...can Ware stay out of foul trouble?

If it's a SEC officiating crew, it will be 8 vs 5.

[Parakeet Jones]

5 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

No, we didn't play as well as we could have, but under the circumstances (XJ out, road game) I was encouraged by the fact that even though our starting backcourt didn't contribute much offensively, we were still able to pull it out. We know what Trey CAN do, he just has to start doing it... I think Gabe will improve every game... And if CJ can just start gaining some consistency with his shot, look out...

And I only counted 457 missed bunnies 😉

Trust me, I'm not complaining about Tuesday night.  HUGE win.  I'm greedy.  I want more.  

[Reacher]

Another chance to keep developing and building the resume... I agree the Ware Broom matchup will be key. Hopefully Broome hasn't faced too many like Ware and struggles with his size. 

[kyhoosier29]

Let’s keep building….. 

[IUFLA]

35 minutes ago, Parakeet Jones said:

Trust me, I'm not complaining about Tuesday night.  HUGE win.  I'm greedy.  I want more.  

[NCHoosier32]

49 minutes ago, Parakeet Jones said:

Trust me, I'm not complaining about Tuesday night.  HUGE win.  I'm greedy.  I want more.  

for sure.  i don't care who it is in conference.  if we get a road conference win, it is a good win regardless of score.  i would love this win vs Auburn.  seems like not a bad matchup for us.  

[DWB]

If we can keep Broome and Holloway in check, or at least below their avg's, and IF we can share the ball and have balanced scoring, we'll be very tough to beat

[Hoosier4Life53]

1 hour ago, IUCrazy2 said:

Any word on when we might expect Johnson back?

Hopefully, for the Kansas game.

[Hoosier987]

Watched them vs App state. Wasn’t too impressed…of course that was only one game. 
 

If we contain their big man, I like our chances. We also travel well, so I I would expect a large IU crowd despite it being played in the neighboring state of Auburn

[Officer Obie]

1 hour ago, IUFLA said:

I don't trust anyone with their hair slicked back. Especially from the 80's.

Edited December 7, 2023 by Officer Obie

[IUFLA]

39 minutes ago, Hoosier4Life53 said:

Hopefully, for the Kansas game.

If XJ would be say 80% for Kansas, would it be better to hold him out til it's fully healed? Playing on it when it wasn't all the way healed vs Harvard is what got him back in the boot...

I'd prefer this didn't linger into the main part of the conference season... 

[Parakeet Jones]

Just now, IUFLA said:

If XJ would be say 80% for Kansas, would it be better to hold him out til it's fully healed? 

I think so.  We have to look at the B1G picture.  

[IUFLA]

2 minutes ago, Parakeet Jones said:

I think so.  We have to look at the B1G picture.  

Exactly...Theoretically, we could hold him out until the Nebraska game (January 3rd) if the medical staff thinks they need to... 

[btownqb]

59 minutes ago, Hoosier987 said:

Watched them vs App state. Wasn’t too impressed…of course that was only one game. 
 

If we contain their big man, I like our chances. We also travel well, so I I would expect a large IU crowd despite it being played in the neighboring state of Auburn

Just worried about handling pressure on the perimeter the next two games. 

To counter our lack of 3pt ability, we HAVE to get to the FT line--- we ranked 37th in FTs made per game and 25th in FTs attmepted per game. 

We shoot 72.9% from the line, outside of Sparks..

Edited December 7, 2023 by btownqb

[ledies22]

23 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

If XJ would be say 80% for Kansas, would it be better to hold him out til it's fully healed? Playing on it when it wasn't all the way healed vs Harvard is what got him back in the boot...

I'd prefer this didn't linger into the main part of the conference season... 

unlike football, it seems like it doesnt really matter who plays when for post season consideration. Sorry FSU.

So i would say, obviously see how it feels. If he's "good to go" let him run a bit and see how it goes. Minutes would correlate to how the game is going. After that he has 2 weeks and change to rest up and heal during the Morehead St., N Alabama, and Kennesaw St. stretch to be ready for Nebraska on 1/3/24

[Hoosier4Life53]

48 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

If XJ would be say 80% for Kansas, would it be better to hold him out til it's fully healed? Playing on it when it wasn't all the way healed vs Harvard is what got him back in the boot...

I'd prefer this didn't linger into the main part of the conference season... 

I’d love to have him back for the Kansas game, but only if he’s 100% healthy. If not, let’s see what Gunn can do on the big stage. As well as he played against Michigan, I think he’s only scratching the surface, and it wouldn’t it be great for him to have true breakout game against Kansas?

[Seeking6]

4 hours ago, IUCrazy2 said:

Any word on when we might expect Johnson back?

Coach said on zoom earlier near future....which to me says probably not for a couple more weeks. So far he was injured 11 days ago. If it goes past Kansas we know it was something a little more severe.

[cthomas]

Feels like it's a game we can win with proper mindset. If Cupps continues to play relatively mistake free and the sophomores continue to grow and play within themselves, I like our chances. At this point, we are playing with house money. To just split this four game stretch without XJ would feel like a win to me.

[John S]

Thinking back to our first 3-4 games, i am feeling good about the growth in confidence and court-sense we see from the young guys. As this continues, the team should gel even better after another several games. Go Hoosiers.