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Auburn Basketball Dominates Southeastern Louisiana in 92-59 Season-Opening Win
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- Auburn Basketball Dominates Southeastern Louisiana in 92-59 Season-Opening Win
(USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
The Auburn Tigers start their season strong with a regular-season opening win, 92-59, against Southeastern Louisiana at Neville Arena.
Steven Pearl was visibly pleased with this squad as they move to 1-0.
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Here is what you need to know about the contest.
5 Auburn Tigers get in double digits
It was a great day for the Auburn Tigers' offense, as five players of their brand-new constructed roster reached double digits for the first time this season.
Tahaad Pettiford led the squad with 18 points across 22 minutes of play. The Auburn guard went 6-for-19 from the field and vastly improved after starting the game missing his first eight shots.
Both Kevin Overton and Kolby King finished with 12 points, good enough for second-best on Steven Pearl's roster for opening night. Overton left a lot on the table, however, as he only put up five field goal attempts, all coming from beyond the arc, and landed four of them in the contest. King saw limited action but still found a way to get double digits in just 15 minutes of play.
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George Kimble and Narcisse Ngoy rounded out the Tigers' five players with double digits. Each scored 10 in the contest.
Block City hits Neville Arena
Defensively, the Tigers were very impressive, especially when it came to blocks. The entire team recorded a combined 11 blocks in the contest against Southeastern Louisiana. Bukky Oboye led the charge with 5 blocks in the contest. Both Ngoy and Thomas Dowd each had 2.
The team was also very consistent on the boards, as they picked up a clean 50 rebounds in the season-opening game, a +13 margin against their opponent.
Efficient Play and High Energy
Auburn led for the majority of this game, only trailing for 1 minute and 13 seconds in the contest, and found themselves with 1.3 points per possession. Definitely a good start to the season.
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Bench points were another positive stat, as the reserves accounted for 36 of the team's 92 points.
As mentioned earlier, King only played 15 minutes in this contest but still had a plus-minus of 24 points during his effective play on the court. The majority of the entire team found themselves with a positive plus-minus ratio.
Maybe it's just the first game of the season, but this newly formed roster by Steven Pearl has a newfound energy to it compared to last season's NIT championship run. Hopefully, they can continue to keep that up over the next few games as they prepare for some tougher competition before SEC play.
What's Next?
The Auburn Tigers move to 1-0 and will host Appalachian State on Monday for another non-conference matchup.
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Appalachian State has already played two games this season, winning both contests with a 63-49 victory over Merrimack and a 108-43 victory over Christendom.
Tip-off is scheduled for 8 pm Central on Monday at Neville Arena and will be available on SEC Network.
