Home US SportsNCAAB Auburn basketball’s defense travels for OSU win. But offense has been traveling, too

Auburn basketball’s defense travels for OSU win. But offense has been traveling, too

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ATLANTA — Through 10 games, it’s clear the circumstance hasn’t been much of a matter for Auburn basketball.

A semi-neutral site game against a top-five in their hometown? It was an Auburn win. Three games against Quad 1 teams — two of which were ranked — in one of the most prestigious early season MTE? All three were Auburn wins.

Even the Tigers’ lone loss, against a top-10 team on their home court, was at No. 4 Duke. In Cameron Indoor Stadium. And Auburn only lost by two possessions. No. 2 Auburn proved the point again Saturday at State Farm Arena, securing another Quad 1 victory over Ohio State, and doing so in blowout fashion, beating the Buckeyes 91-53.

3 TAKEAWAYS: Our observations from Auburn basketball’s Ohio State win

Defense was the highlight, as the Tigers stymied one of the nation’s best 3-point shooting squads. But even as Johni Broome notched his first career 20-20 game, it was easy to overlook: While Auburn’s defense has traveled this season, its offense has done the same.

“When Miles (Kelly), or Chad (Baker-Mazara), or Denver (Jones), or Tahaad (Pettiford) are shooting the ball, they think it’s going in,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “Jahki (Howard), too. They think it’s going in. So, that effect on the perimeter — Chaney Johnson and Johni Broome, our bigs can shoot it, too. You’ve got to get out and guard us on the perimeter, which opens up things on the inside.”

It’s a simple fact that Auburn (9-1) has scorers. Kelly, Baker-Mazara, Jones, Pettiford, Howard, Johnson and Broome have all had their explosive performances this season. As a conglomerate, their numbers haven’t dropped off away from Neville Arena.

In its six non-home games, Auburn is averaging 83.5 points. It’s shooting 48.3% from the field and 36.5% from distance, and it’s crushing the offensive glass. The Tigers have out-rebounded opponents away from Neville Arena with a plus-22.

The numbers for the entire season are marginally different at most.

The Tigers are averaging 87.0 points per game for the whole year while shooting 51.1% from the field and 37.6% from distance. The circumstance is something to be mindful of, naturally. Auburn has played more games away from the Plains than it has on it this year. But still, there hasn’t been an offensive drop off without the home court advantage. The advanced stats show the same.

Coming into Saturday’s win, Auburn was taking care of the ball and maximizing its offensive output. Its offensive rebounding percentage of 34.7% away from home was better than its season mark (34.5%), and its turnover percentage in that regard, 12.6%, is just over a percentage point better for the whole season, at 11.5%.

The individual stats show Auburn’s stars are playing better away from home, too. Broome has averaged at least 20.0 points in road and neutral site games, but 17.8 at home. Baker-Mazara has averaged 17.0 points in true road games. He’s averaging 12.0 at Neville Arena. And Pettiford? He’s averaging 20.0 in true road games, but 7.8 at home.

Part of that could be strength of opponent, as all of Auburn’s home games this season have been against Quad 3 and 4 opponents. It doesn’t mean the Tigers’ best are slouches, necessarily, as Auburn’s home wins have been deeper team efforts.

It just shows Auburn’s best are stepping it up in significant circumstances.

For better or worse, there will be plenty more opportunities for the Tigers to see these numbers shift. After a home game against Georgia State on Tuesday, Auburn goes back on the road to play No. 11 Purdue next Saturday in Birmingham.

The Boilermakers are Auburn’s second-to-last opponent in nonconference play, and it’ll have nine more contests away from Neville Arena when SEC play begins, with trips to Texas, and ranked Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M squads among those.

Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball: Tigers seeing offensive output away from home

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