Scouting Report: Auburn Tigers

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When Big Blue Nation went to bed on Saturday, February 11th the Kentucky Wildcats were not a NCAA Tournament team. They had just lost to Georgia falling to 16-9 overall and 7-5 in the Southeastern Conference. Now, after three straight Quad 1 wins, the ‘Cats are the highest rated #8 seed in Joe Lunardi’s bracket with more room left to run. What a difference two weeks can make. On Saturday at Rupp Arena, Kentucky has another important test against the Auburn Tigers with tip-off scheduled for 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS. A win would all but guarantee the Wildcats a double-bye in the SEC Tournament and potentially lift them another NCAA Tournament seed line as well. Just keep stacking up wins.

Auburn stared of conference play 6-1 but has hit several road blocks since then. They are just 3-6 overall in their last nine games and haven’t won away from their home floor in over a month. In fact, the Tigers home and road splits are quite staggering. On the season they are 15-3 at Auburn Arena or on a neutral site and just 4-6 on the road. Kentucky must hold serve at home on Saturday, and then again against Vanderbilt on Wednesday, to create a “house money” type of game to finish the regular season at Arkansas. As for Coach Bruce Pearl’s squad, they are on the right side of the bubble but just hanging on. It won’t be easy though as the Tigers finish the season at Kentucky, at Alabama, and home for Tennessee.

It is time to lock in for another KSR Scouting Report. As always we have a full personnel deep-dive, breakdowns of their offensive and defensive scheme, and a look at the overall keys to the game. Let’s dive on in and take a closer look at the Auburn Tigers.

Auburn Tigers Personnel

Starters

#1 Wendell Green Jr.: 5’11” 175 lbs, Junior Point Guard

13.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.3 apg

Extremely quick point guard. Looking to really push the pace in transition. Always thinking about going coast-to-coast for a layup. You have to sprint back in transition and get the ball stopped. Help corral him and stop the ball. He will go end-to-end after makes as well. Protect the basket and stop the ball. Very willing shooter, but just 28.2% from 3 on 124 attempts. Back up and stay between him and the basket. No right hand drives! Go under the ballscreens and handoffs to stay between him and the basket. Much more concerned about him penetrating than making 3’s behind the ballscreen. Just get a hand up to contest. Better passer than he is a finisher. Get your hands up and make him finish at the end of his drives. Don’t over help. Stay in front. Stop the ball. No layups for him!

#12 Zep Jasper: 6’1″ 190 lbs, Graduate Student Guard

3.2 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.4 apg

Primarily in there to defend. Excellent on-ball defender. Shooter! No catch-and-shoot 3’s! 62 of 92 shots have been 3’s. 18 of his 19 made 3’s are of the catch-and-shoot variety. He is just looking to shoot open catch-and-shoot 3’s. Be tight enough to give a hard contest if he shoots it. Not super aggressive and just 30.6% from 3 so you can still help off of him some, but closeout to take away the obvious catch-and-shoot 3’s. You can hop underneath the ballscreens and handoffs. Don’t let him turn the corner to his right hand. No right hand drives. Not really going to look to attack off of the dribble. Just stay between him and the basket and make him score over you. Find him in transition after getting the basket and stopping the ball. No uncontested catch-and-shoot 3’s.

#22 Allen Flanigan: 6’6″ 220 lbs, Senior Guard

9.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.4 apg

Lefty. Bigger wing. Capable shooter. 32.6% from 3 on 89 attempts. Averaging one make per game. Need to be tight enough to contest the obvious catch-and-shoot 3’s. No catch-and-shoot 3’s. Once you take away the initial catch-and-shoot you need to bounce back and guard against the left hand drive. No left hand drives! Very physical on his way to the basket. Get your hands up and make him finish over you. Stay down and wall up at the end of his drives. Always coming back to his left hand to finish. You can bring some help and try to take it off of him when he is driving it left. 40 assists, 52 turnovers. Pressure him and see if he will turn it over. Will crash the offensive glass hard. Box out! No uncontested catch-and-shoot 3’s. No left hand drives.

#2 Jaylin Williams: 6’8″ 230 lbs, Senior Forward

11.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.3 apg

Lefty. Skilled 4-man. Good shooter. 36.8% from 3 on 87 attempts. No pick-and-pop or catch-and-shoot 3’s. Need to be very willing to switch when he ballscreens to take away the pick-and-pop 3’s. We should be able to go under the ballscreens as well and stay with him without needing to switch. Once you take away the pick-and-pop or catch-and-shoot 3’s he is looking to drive it left. No left hand drives! Always coming back left to finish. Likes to spin back to his left hand around the basket. Do not let him come back left. Stay down, wall up, and be physical on his right shoulder around the basket. Going to shot fake and pivot to come back left. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. Will shoot the face-up jumper as well. Contest all jumpers. Excellent offensive rebounder. Box out! No catch-and-shoot 3’s. No left hand drives.

#4 Johni Broome: 6’10” 235 lbs, Sophomore Forward

14.1 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 1.4 apg

Lefty. Skilled, mobile 5-man. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. No quick drop steps. Need to be physical on his right shoulder and get him off of the block. His percentages will go down the further off of the block you make him catch it. Will face you up some to shoot the jumper. Get a hand up and give it a hard contest. Also will face you up to drive it left. No left hand drives. Will slip screens on the perimeter and look for it on the dive. Ballscreens and rolls to the basket as well. Need to stay lower than him on the roll. No dunks or layups on slips or rolls to the rim. Aggressively dig the ball out of the post. 37 assists, 49 turnovers. Make him uncomfortable. Elite offensive rebounder. Averages 3 offensive rebounds per game. Box out! No right shoulder baskets!

Bench

#0 K.D. Johnson: 6’0″ 185 lbs, Junior Guard

8.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.3 apg

Quick, physical, ultra-aggressive guard. Plays extremely hard. He is going to attack the basket hard in transition. Always thinking about going coast-to-coast for a layup. You have to sprint back in transition and get the ball stopped. Help corral him and stop the ball. He will go end-to-end after makes as well. Protect the basket and stop the ball. Very willing shooter, but just 28.9% from 3 on 90 attempts. Back up and stay between him and the basket. No right hand drives! Go under the ballscreens and handoffs to stay between him and the basket. Much more concerned about him penetrating than making 3’s behind the ballscreen. Just get a hand up to contest. Not thinking about passing. 34 assists, 39 turnovers. No layups for him!

#5 Chris Moore: 6’6″ 230 lbs, Junior Forward

4.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.6 apg

Backup 4-man. Undersized, but very strong and athletic. Capable shooter but very low volume. 9-22 from 3 this season. He is more aggressive as a right hand driver. No right hand drives!!! 56.2% from 2. Bounce back after taking away the initial catch-and-shoot to guard against the right hand drive. Very physical at the end of his drives. Looking to shot fake and pivot to come back and finish with his right hand. Stay down, wall up, and don’t let him come back right. Make him score everything with you between him and the basket. He is going to crash the offensive glass hard. Find him and box him out. No right hand drives. No right hand drives! Keep him off of the offensive glass.

#44 Dylan Cardwell: 6’11” 256 lbs, Junior Center

3.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.2 apg

Backup 5-man. Big, physical post presence. Exclusively looking to score right at the rim. Wants deep post duck-ins, dump off passes at the rim, or lobs on the roll. He is 74.6% from the field this season. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical and get him off of the block. His percentages will go down the further off of the block you make him catch it. They aren’t super aggressive throwing it to him in the post though. More so looking for him on the roll or on a dump off. Stay lower than him on the roll. Don’t help up off of him at the rim. Very physical when the shot goes up. Averaging over 2 offensive rebounds per game. Box out! No dunks for him!

#24 Lior Berman: 6’4″ 215 lbs, Senior Guard

2.5 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 0.2 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 23 of 35 shots haven been 3’s. When he is in there he is only hunting catch-and-shoot 3’s. Chase him off of downscreens and get over the flares. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. No help off of him. 43.5% from 3. Need to be tight to him at all times to take him away from 3. Find him in transition. He is only looking to take catch-and-shoot 3’s. Pressure him on the perimeter. If he isn’t dribbling you aren’t close enough. No catch-and-shoot 3’s!

#3 Tre Donaldson: 6’2″ 190 lbs, Freshman Guard

2.0 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 1.3 apg

Backup point guard. Willing shooter, but just 6-23 from 3 on the season. More dangerous as a right hand driver than he is as a shooter. No right hand drives. Go under the ballscreens and handoffs. We want to stay between him and the basket at all times. Not a great finisher with someone between him and the basket. Get your hands up and make him finish over you. The deeper he takes it the more he is driving to pass. Do not over help. He is a better passer than he is finisher. Get the ball stopped in transition. No layups for him!

Auburn Tigers Offense

It has been an inconsistent season for the Auburn Tigers offensively. They have found success in transition, as most teams do under Coach Pearl, but there have been half court hiccups due to poor shooting. In fact, the Tigers are one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country. Their 30.1% mark puts them 339th out of 363 Division I college basketball teams. However, they offensive rebound at a high level and can get to the basket off of the dribble. First and foremost though you must be focused on slowing them down in transition. #0 Green Jr. is constantly looking to go end-to-end off of a make or miss for a layup. You must SPRINT back and protect the basket, stop the ball, and begin matching up starting with the next most dangerous guy.

In the half court, the Auburn Tigers are a 4-around-1 Motion team that will set a lot of ballscreens. We should be able to hop underneath the ballscreens as their guards are not really threats to shoot behind it. This will also keep us from having to help off of their talented forwards like #2 Williams and #4 Broome. Our goal should be to stay between them and the basket at all times and then be in position to defensive rebound. Let’s take a look at the film for a better understanding of what the Tigers will do offensively.

The first thing you have to take away from the Auburn Tigers offensively is their transition attack. Their point guard #1 Green Jr. is one of the quickest end-to-end guys in all of college basketball. You have to sprint all the way back and protect the basket and then help corral him off of the dribble. If you are jogging back like you see in the clip above he is going to lay it in on us!

To drive the point home even more, here is a clip of #1 Green Jr. beating everyone down the floor after a made basket. This simply cannot happen. Even after a made basket you need to SPRINT all the way back to protect the rim and then build a wall to start corralling the basketball as it comes towards you. If you are back pedaling or jogging back you are going to get beat. We need to not allow ANY of these layups.

This isn’t the perfect example of #4 Broome on the rim run because he isn’t running THAT hard, but it still serves as a look at what the Auburn Tigers are capable of in transition. As we always say, the transition defense mantra is protect the basket, stop the ball, and match up beginning with the next most dangerous guy. What you see in this clip is exactly why that is a sequential list. Nobody ever got the basket which is supposed to the number one on the checklist. We can’t give up layups or dunks like this in transition.

Auburn will run some of the same Spain action that we have started to find a lot of success with recently. However, we want to try and stay underneath all of the ballscreens and force the Tigers guards to score from the perimeter. Also, we should be able to provide more help off of the backscreen because they won’t have a shooter like Antonio Reeves setting the screen. We want to stay lower than them on the roll at all times and take away as much as possible at the rim.

One of Coach Pearl’s favorite half court actions is this Flex screen to elbow flash. It is a good way to isolate #2 Williams in space and they also get to this little downhill handoff from it some too. After the initial action they are just into their 4-around-1 Motion. What you see here is #2 Williams keeping it on the handoff to turn the corner to his left hand. You have to be aware of him driving it left anytime he has the ball out on the perimeter. He is a catch-and-shoot threat but once he starts bouncing it you can back off a little bit and guard against the left hand drive. Do not let him turn the corner like this to his left hand!

Auburn Tigers Defense

The Auburn Tigers have made their money this season on the defensive end of the floor. They enter Rupp Arena as the as the #15 defense in the country making this matchup the fourth straight Top 25 defense the ‘Cats have faced. Auburn’s guards apply excellent ball pressure and they get some of the best rim protection in the country from the three-headed monster of Johni Broome, Jaylin Williams, and Dylan Cardwell. This is a man-to-man team that will switch several screens and look to contest every jump shot. They are among the best in the nation at taking away 3’s allowing opponents to shoot just 27.7% from deep which is #4 in the country. We are going to have to execute at a high level to score against this swarming defense.

Keys to the Game

Transition defense. SPRINT back after both makes and misses. You have to get ALL the way back every time and protect the basket. #1 Green Jr. is going to bring it in a hurry looking to lay it in. Protect the basket, stop the ball, and match up beginning with the next most dangerous guy.
Dominate the glass. The Auburn Tigers are excellent on the offensive boards rebounding nearly 35% of their misses. It will be hard for them to score enough to win if we limit them to one shot per possession. Need to be 77% or better on the defensive glass.
Protect the paint. Auburn is just a 30.1% 3-point shooting team. We need to back up, stay between them and the basket, and make them score contested 2’s. There is no reason to be chasing them around on the perimeter and give up layups. See if they will make enough shots from the perimeter to win. Take away their layups!
Shoot 75% or better from the free throw line.