By Brant Daughtry
I’m so impressed with the maturity of this Auburn team. It’s been said that basketball is a game of runs. The winning team is the team that can sustain its own runs, and stop other teams’ runs before they get out of hand. Two games in a row now, Auburn has had decent but not dominating leads over teams that refused to roll over. But every time LSU or Ole Miss had an opportunity to take the lead against Auburn, someone on the team made the big play. And often, it’s been different guys making those plays. Denver Jones, Tahaad Pettiford, Johni Broome. Heck, I think Saturday was the best game of Dylan Cardwell’s Auburn career. He didn’t go off for 30 points, but he made big free throws, rebounded like a mad man, and played great defense regardless of matchup. The SEC schedule will continue to be a grind, but this team just keeps finding ways to win. If they keep that up, there will be more than one banner in the rafters.
Oklahoma is coached by Porter Moser, the architect of the small-school dynasty that Loyola-Chicago was for a few years. He’s used to taking guys that are a little undersized and getting them to play well against top competition. At Oklahoma, it’s been a bit up and down. He hasn’t made the tournament yet, and Oklahoma fans were a little bit antsy coming into the year. Then Oklahoma went undefeated in non-conference play.
The Sooners were one of the many teams that played above expectations in non-conference play, but once they got up against SEC competition, they stumbled, starting out 0-4. Since then though, the schedule has eased a bit, and they’ve won three of their last four.
Against upper-half competition, they’ve been rough, but they can beat up on the teams in the lower part of the league, usually. Worth noting though, against Vanderbilt, a top-25 team, they ran away in the second half of that one, outscoring Vandy 61-27 to win the game by 30. It was a brutal beatdown, and showed that while the Sooners may not be the best competition, they can hang with good teams. It remains to be seen how good Vanderbilt actually is, but they were ranked in the top-25 for a reason.
This isn’t the best defense in the world, but they are a great team offensively. They spread the floor and take a lot of threes, and they have multiple guys that can shoot it. 60-point halves don’t happen on accident. When it comes to putting the ball in the basket, they do it as well as anyone.
Players to Watch For:
Forward Jalen Moore, #14- Moore is the best player on this team, and his offense should scare people. He’s averaging 19 points a game in conference play, and does it incredibly efficiently. He’s leading the team in rebounding as well with 6 per game, and in a rare achievement, leads the team in minutes as a forward. He’s 6-7, athletic, and skilled. As well as Auburn has done against front court scorers in the last few weeks, this is probably the toughest test Auburn will have had since the Georgia game and Asa Newell.
Guard Jeremiah Fears, #0- Fears is a bit streaky, can easily get hot or cold. But when he gets hot, there’s not many who are better. He’s can shoot it from anywhere on the floor and they look to get him going early and often. He also likes to contribute defensively by going after steals, and he has almost two a game. He’s got good size for a guard at 6-4, and will be looking to repeat the performance that Sean Pedulla had for Ole Miss.
This game will mark the halfway point in the conference season. With the win on Saturday, Auburn has guaranteed a winning record in conference road games this year. In this version of the SEC, that’s an incredible accomplishment, and in any other version, it would probably be enough to win it. This year is different though, as many have said. I’ve said it over and over, and I’ll continue to do so. This team is incredibly special. Soak it up folks.
