BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The No. 2 Auburn Tigers picked up an 87-69 win over No. 16 Purdue at the 2024 Battle In Birmingham inside Legacy Arena in its final game before the holiday break.
After leaving Auburn's win over Georgia State after two minutes due to a shoulder injury, star big man Johni Broome made his presence known this afternoon. The 6-foot-10 forward led all scorers and rebounders with 23 and 11 respectively, shot 10-15 from the field and added two assists, one block and one steal in 29 minutes of action.
Once he got out there and got on the scoresheet, he was ready to continue rolling.
"That first 3, I feel like that kind of gave me a little extra kick," Broome said. "I was still kind of unsure because I had not gone full speed in a game yet. Coming out and hitting my first 3 and seeing how the crowd reacted to it, it made me feel better about myself."
Auburn (11-1) began to separate itself around the 12:00 minute media timeout in the first half. The Tigers extended their lead from two points to 14 points over the span of seven minutes. The run featured a 3-pointer from Jahki Howard and a high-flying Dylan Cardwell dunk. The Boilermakers' C.J. Cox hit a 3-pointer with 0:03 left in the first half, but Purdue (8-4) went into the locker room for halftime down 15 points.
The second half was more of the same as Auburn continued to build on its domination, leading Purdue by as much as 33 points. With 7:01 remaining in the game, the Boilermakers had put only 13 second-half points on the board, six of them belonging to Trey Kaufman-Renn.
The Tigers fouled a lot, having 18 called on them. They did a good job of preventing eachother from getting into foul trouble, however, as nine different players helped carry the load.
Auburn shot 61.3% from the field, 42.9% from 3-point range and 33.3% from the free-throw line. The Tigers were led in scoring and in rebounding by Broome, Chad Baker-Mazara led the team in assists with six. Tahhad Pettiford added 18 points, Denver Jones had 15.
Purdue shot 44.8% from the field, 50% from 3-point range and 91.7% from the free-throw line. The Boilermakers were led in points by Cox with 16, in rebounds by Kaufman-Renn who had 15 and in assists by Braden Smith with six.
For Auburn, it was the sixth Quad 1 win of the season, tops in the nation, and the fourth top 25 victory, which matches the program record for most regular-season non-conference wins over ranked teams.
"We beat a good basketball team, but we beat a great basketball program," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "I'm really proud of our league. I was concerned about the toughness of our schedule. If we couldn't handle it, we could've hurt our league. But we didn't. We helped our league, and that matters to me a great deal.
Auburn returns to action after the holiday break to take on Monmouth in its final game of non-conference play on Dec. 30. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. CT and the television broadcast can be found on SEC Network+.
PURDUE POSTGAME NOTES
* With the win, Auburn evened the all-time series with Purdue to 2-2. The Tigers are now 1-1 under head coach Bruce Pearl against the Boilermakers as Purdue defeated Auburn, 96-71, in the 2016 Cancun Challenge.
* For the 10th-straight game, Auburn went with the starting lineup of Denver Jones, Miles Kelly, Chad Baker-Mazara, Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell. Jones, Baker-Mazara, Broome and Cardwell have started all 12 games this season. Cardwell played in his 140th career game on Saturday, which surpassed former teammate Jaylin Williams' school-record 139 career games played.
* The win marked Coach Pearl's 211th win in his 11 seasons at Auburn, putting him two wins behind Joel Eaves, who won 213 games in 14 seasons as the Tigers' head coach, for the most career coaching wins in program history.
* Auburn improved to 4-1 against ranked opponents this season. The Tigers' four ranked wins (No. 4 Houston, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 12 North Carolina and No. 16 Purdue) on the year match their total of regular season, non-conference wins over ranked opponents overall in program history prior to this season.
* The Tigers shot 54.5 percent overall (36-of-66) and 61.3 percent (19-of-31) in the second half of play versus Purdie. It marked the sixth time the Tigers have shot over 50 percent this season including the last two games when they shot 55.9 percent.
* Auburn went 10-of-26 from 3-point range as six Tigers made a shot from long range against Purdue. It was the seventh time Auburn has made double-double 3-pointers this season including the fourth time in the last five games during which the Tigers have gone 40.4 percent (55-of-136) from beyond the arc.
* The Tigers' 87 points and 41 first-half points are the most Purdue has allowed this season. The Boilermakers allowed 84 points to Yale and 40 first-half points to Alabama and Penn State.
* AU recorded 24 assists on 36 made field goals, which is one assist off the Tigers' season high of 25 assists against North Alabama, led by a career-high-tying six assists from Chad Baker-Mazara. The 24 assists are the most the Tigers have had against a ranked opponent under Coach Pearl. It was the fifth time Auburn has registered at least 23 assists this season.
* Auburn placed three players in double figures, led by Johni Broome, who recorded his 68th career double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds to go with two assists, one block and one steal against the Boilermakers. It was Broome's seventh game of the season with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds. He has recorded a double-double in four of five games against ranked opponents this season and missed a double-double against Houston by one rebound. Against ranked opponents this season, Broome is averaging 21.4 points on 55.7 percent shooting, 12.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks.
* Freshman Tahaad Pettiford scored 18 points on 7-of-12 field goals and 2-of-4 3-pointers. It was Pettiford's sixth game in double figures including all five games against ranked opponents. He is averaging 16.6 points and is 15-of-30 from 3-point range against ranked opponents.
* Denver Jones posted his fourth-straight game in double figures and his 10th of the season with 15 points on 6-of-10 field goals and 3-of-6 three-pointers to go with four assists and one rebound versus Purdue. Jones is 15-of-26 (57.7 percent) from long-range over his last four games. He went over 1,400 career points, finishing the day with 1,406 points to date.