Scouting Report: Auburn Tigers

There won’t be a better atmosphere in college basketball on Saturday than what we will see for this game. The #13 Auburn Tigers (20-5, 9-3) will host the #22 Kentucky Wildcats (17-7, 7-4) at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN. After the Tigers dominated South Carolina 101-61 on Wednesday night the fans have pretty much just stayed at Neville Arena. Typically, you’d expect Saturday to be a let down spot for Auburn after defeating the #11 team in the country by 40 points. However, let downs don’t really happen when the Wildcats come to town. Coach Bruce Pearl and the Tigers will feed off of the raucous crowd and be ready to play.

Auburn is the only team in college basketball that ranks in the Top 10 of both adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency on KenPom. Their balance between the perimeter and interior on both ends of the floor is extremely impressive. To that point, the Tigers have 10 players that play between 14.3 and 24.3 minutes per game. They’ve also had impressive continuity this season as none of those 10 primary rotation players have missed a game this season. Their 11th man has played in 24 of 25 games. That is a level of good injury luck that Big Blue Nation simply cannot relate to.

Coming off of Wednesday’s win it is easy to feel like the Tigers are invincible. Their metrics and even the eye-test would certainly point to them being one of the best teams in the country as well. Auburn has as high of a ceiling as anyone in college basketball. However, it is important to remember they are not, in fact, invincible. Just a week ago they trailed by 29 points midway through the second half in Gainesville. In back-to-back losses at the end of January, Auburn shot a combined 11-49 from three-point range. Appalachian State, one of the best mid-major teams in the country, knocked them off earlier this season as well. Auburn is absolutely a dangerous opponent who is capable of blowing the ‘Cats out, but they’ve showed vulnerability as well. This isn’t an impossible task on Saturday evening.

As always, we have prepared a full, in-depth scouting report for Kentucky’s next opponent. We will take a deep dive into the Tigers’ personnel, break down their offensive and defensive schemes, and highlight the keys to the game for the Cats. Let’s dive in and get to know more about the Auburn Tigers.

Auburn Tigers Personnel

Starters

#3 Tre Donaldson: 6’3″ 200 lbs, Sophomore Guard

7.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3.5 apg

Primary ball handler. Strong, physical guard. Explosive driver. Very capable shooter, 19-50 from 3, but better and more aggressive as a right hand driver. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! He is excellent at getting downhill to the rim. We want to stay between him and the basket to make him finish contested 2’s. Go UNDER the ballscreens and handoffs. Closeout with high hands and choppy feet, but then bounce bounce back to guard against the right hand drive. Sprint back in the transition to protect the basket and get the ball stopped. Very good finisher when he gets to the paint. Loves to shoot the floater. Get your hands up to contest it. The goal is to make him finish non-paint 2’s. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you at the end of his drives. No right hand drives. No layups.

#12 Denver Jones: 6’4″ 205 lbs, Junior Guard

7.7 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.4 apg

Shooter! No 3’s! 80 of 146 shots have been 3’s. Shooting 36.3% from 3. You need to be tight to him at all times to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. No help off of him on the perimeter. Get OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. Once you take away his catch-and-shoot 3’s he will look to drive it right. Really just wants to shoot jump shots. Give a hard contest to the pull-up jump shots. Hasn’t been very efficient from inside the arc. We want to make him score 2’s. Get up and pressure him on the perimeter and make him drive it. He will be the next most dangerous guy to match up to in transition. Don’t need to over help when he drives. Make him finish. No catch-and-shoot 3’s!

#5 Chris Moore: 6’6″ 220 lbs, Senior Forward

2.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.8 apg

Bigger, physical wing. Not very aggressive offensively. He is a non-shooter. Just 3-18 from 3 this season. Right hand driver. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! We want to stay between him and the basket. Help off of when he doesn’t have it and then closeout short to him on the perimeter. There is no reason to ever be out beyond the arc guarding him. When in doubt, back up and be ready for him to drive it right. Go UNDER the ballscreens and handoffs. Go up through any downscreens so he can’t curl to the basket. Stay between him and the basket. Sprint back and be ready for him to drive it right off of the throw ahead in transition. He will crash the offensive glass hard from the perimeter. You have to make contact with him when the shot goes up. Make him score non-point 2’s. No right hand drives!

#2 Jaylin Williams: 6’8″ 245 lbs, Graduate Student Forward

13.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.9 apg

Left-handed. Strong, skilled 4-man. Shooter! No 3’s! Shooting 42.6% from 3. If you aren’t close enough to him on the perimeter he will shoot it. Get all the way out to him and take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. You have to make him bounce it. Once he puts it on the floor you have to bounce back aggressively and guard against the left hand drive. No left hand drives!!! When you get him to dribble it he is looking to get all of the way to the rim. Likes to turn his drives into post moves. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. Be physical, stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. He is ALWAYS spinning back left to finish. Loves to cut along the baseline as the ball gets driven. Don’t get back cut and give up a lob. No catch-and-shoot 3’s. ALL LEFT HAND!!!

#4 Johni Broome: 6’10” 240 lbs, Junior Center

16.2 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 1.9 apg

Left-handed. Skilled 5-man with elite footwork. Very capable shooter. You have to get all of the way out to him when he faces up on the perimeter. 20-52 from 3. Need to take it away/contest it. Excellent in the post. They will run a lot of action to get him a catch on the block. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. Be ready to take away the quick baseline drop step. Loves to shot fake, spin, pivot, and step through inside. Always looking to come back left to finish. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. Be physical on his right shoulder. We need to stunt and fake at him inside. Don’t let him be too comfortable. Very good passer. When you go dig/double you have to do so aggressively. Steal or foul. Make him score with you between him and the basket. Box him out!!!

Bench

#10 Chad Baker-Mazara: 6’7″ 180 lbs, Junior Guard/Forward

9.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.2 apg

Left-handed. Shooter! No 3’s! Shooting 40.3% from 3. You need to be tight to him at all times to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. No help off of him on the perimeter. Get OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. Once you take away his catch-and-shoot 3’s he will look to drive it left. We would rather make him put it on the floor and drive it. Not nearly as efficient from inside of the arc. Looks to drive it all the way to the rim going left and will shoot the pull-up going right. Give a hard contest to all pull-up jump shots. Get up and pressure him on the perimeter and make him drive it. Don’t need to over help when he drives. Make him finish. No catch-and-shoot 3’s!

#1 Aden Holloway: 6’1″ 178 lbs, Freshman Point Guard

8.2 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 2.9 apg

Backup point guard. Will be the primary ball handler when he is in there. Very aggressive and dynamic as a playmaker. Very capable as a shooter. Has made 43 3’s in 25 games, but shooting “just” 30.3%. You need to pick him up and break his rhythm on the perimeter so he can’t dribble into one. Can’t give him too much space. Go OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE him off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. Shooting the same percentage from 3 as he is from 2. We want to make him score 2’s. Very inefficient from inside of the arc. Sprint back, protect the basket, and get the ball stopped in transition. Get your hands up as he drives it to contest the floater. Don’t over help. Better passer than finisher. No rhythm 3’s. Make him score non-paint 2’s.

#0 K.D. Johnson: 6’0″ 190 lbs, Senior Guard

7.5 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.3 apg

Backup guard. High-energy. Very athletic, physical, and aggressive. Much better and more aggressive as a right hand driver than he is as a shooter. No right hand drives!!! Go UNDER the ballscreens and handoffs. Go up through the downscreens so he can’t curl to the basket. We want to stay between him and the basket at all times. Shooting just 19-68 from 3-point range, but nearly 50% from 2. You should be helping off of him aggressively and then closing out short with high hands. Just need to contest the obvious catch-and-shoot 3’s, then bounce back and guard against the right hand drives. Sprint back, protect the basket, and stop the ball. We want to make him score non-paint 2’s. When in doubt back up and stay in front. No right hand drives. No layups for him.

#44 Dylan Cardwell: 6’11” 255 lbs, Senior Center

5.1 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.1 apg

Backup 5-man. Strong and physical. Primarily looking to score directly at the rim. Will ballscreen and roll to the basket. They will throw it up to him on the roll. If we aren’t going to hard hedge the ballscreen you need to give ground and stay lower than him on the roll to not give up a dunk. Do not help up off of him at the rim and give up a dunk. 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. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. He is an excellent offensive rebounder. Averaging two per game in under 15 minutes. Be physical and make contact with him when the shot goes up. Don’t let him play harder than you. No dunks.

#31 Chaney Johnson: 6’7″ 220 lbs, Junior Forward

4.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.6 apg

Big, athletic backup wing. He is a non-shooter. Just 4-21 from 3 on the season. You do not need to be out guarding him beyond the arc. Help off of him aggressively and then closeout short. We want to stay between him and the basket at all times. Closeout short, go under, back up. Right hand driver! No right hand drives!!! You should always be a step or two off of him to not give up straight line, right hand drives. Good and active cutter off of the ball. Don’t let him cut along the baseline as the ball gets driven. No back cuts! Come take it off of him when he is driving it right. 14 assists, 21 turnovers. The goal is to make him finish non-paint 2’s. He will crash the offensive glass from the perimeter. Make contact and box him out. No right hand drives!

#24 Lior Berman: 6’4″ 210 lbs, Graduate Student Guard

1.4 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 0.2 apg

Backup wing. Will play limited minutes and won’t really look to do anything when he is in there. Just guard him straight up. Be there to contest the obvious catch-and-shoot 3’s, then bounce back and guard against the right hand drives. No straight line, right hand drives. Stay between him and the basket. Don’t let him play harder than you. He will crash the offensive glass when a shot goes up. Find him, make contact, and box him out.

Auburn Tigers Offense

Balance is the word that comes to mind when thinking about the Auburn Tigers offensively. Their front court leads the way as #4 Broome and #2 Williams average 16.2 and 13.4 points per game respectively. However, their next six scorers all average between 5.1 and 9.4 points per game. Coach Pearl will go deep into his bench utilizing an 11-man rotation with several guys who can hurt you in a variety of ways. They play fast, share the ball at a high level, are excellent around the basket, and do a great job of getting to the foul line where they convert at a 76% clip.

When they aren’t scoring in transition, the Tigers run a lot of 4-around-1 Motion to space the floor and create kick-out opportunities. They are effective in ballscreen situations too, but are at their best driving-and-kicking or feeding the post. Coach Pearl always has some set plays too that put their best players in space to make a play. It is a well-balanced offense with the only potential Achilles heel being their shooting. Auburn is “just” 33.8% from three-point range which puts them right in the middle of the back nationally. An off shooting night would go a long way towards Kentucky pulling the upset on Saturday night.

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The game plan should be to go underneath the ballscreens set for #3 Donaldson. Regardless of that decision though we should be in a better position to corral the ball handler with our hedge or drop coverage. As that penetration happens, you have to be aware of #2 Williams cutting along the baseline. This is something he will do a lot. You can’t get caught staring at the ball and give up an easy lob to Williams. That will start with providing better ballscreen coverage to begin with.

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Making smart decisions in ballscreen coverage will be critical to limiting Auburn offensively. They have dynamic playmakers all over the floor and plenty of talent. However, you have to play the percentages and make smart, personnel-specific decisions. Know your personnel. There is no reason to be so hugged up on #0 Johnson in the corner as #44 Cardwell rolls unabated to the rim. He is a 27.9% 3-point shooter. Get down in there and tag on the roll to take away the lob.

A staple half court action for Coach Pearl is utilizing this Flex screen to get #2 Williams the ball in space. Often times he will pop out for a catch on the perimeter, but he can also duck-in as you see here. His ability to do both as a 6’8″ 245 pound forward that shoots 42.6% from 3 is what makes him so hard to guard. With Ole Miss switching the Flex screen it gave Williams an even better matchup so he ducked in and finished with an easy left hand, right shoulder hook shot.

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Speaking of the Auburn Tigers using the Flex screen to pop #2 Williams into space, here is a clip of them doing so against South Carolina. You have to be more aggressive on the closeout and make Williams bounce it. He likes to size you up and see if you are close enough and then rise up into his shot. Get all of the way out there and make him handle it. If he isn’t dribbling you aren’t close enough.

We are going to have to help, dig, stunt, and double at #4 Broome in the post. He is a good passer, and the Auburn Tigers have weapons on the perimeter, but the percentages would tell you to make them make 3’s as opposed to letting Broome play 1-on-1 in the post. However, what we can’t have happen is what you see in this clip. There are 10 eyes fixated on Broome in the post, but nobody is actually doing anything. If you aren’t actually going to help then you might as well tighten up to your man. You have to be doing “SOMETHING.” Either go dig/double and try to make him turn it over or stay home, especially when guarding #12 Jones, and take them away from 3.

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A lot of half court possessions will start with this down screen and Iverson type cut over the top. We want to chase #10 Baker-Mazara off of screens, but you need to help back towards the rim off of #4 Broome in this instance. You can’t let him curl so cleanly off for a layup. As a defender you need to give some help towards the rim and then be ready to closeout on Broome on the perimeter. The first priority though is not giving up the layup.

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Out of a Horns alignment, the Tigers will roll #4 Broome down to the post off of a ballscreen. He follows the ball as it gets reversed and will come off of the block to get a catch. When he catches it inside you have to ALWAYS be thinking about him coming back left to score. Stay down, wall up, be physical on his RIGHT SHOULDER, and make him score over you.

Auburn Tigers Defense

For as good as the Auburn Tigers are offensively, they are actually even better defensively. Coach Pearl has this group operating at a Top 5 level in all of college basketball. They apply a high-level of ball pressure, do a great job of taking away three-point shooters, and provide excellent rim protection inside. There really are almost no holes in what they do on the defensive end of the floor. Just take a look at their KenPom numbers and you’ll get an appreciation for how good they are defensively.

• Adjusted Defensive Efficiency – 4th
• Effective Field Goal Percentage – 2nd
• 3pt Defense – 19th
• 2pt Defense – 1st
• Block Rate – 6th

Schematically, it is primarily going to be man-to-man defense from the Auburn Tigers. However, they will extend some full court pressure from time-to-time. They have so much athleticism across the board that it is a good way for them to speed things up a bit and create some turnovers. Aggressiveness would be the best word to describe their overall defensive philosophy. Below is a clip to help give you an idea of what it will look like. When they ice the ballscreens they do so much more aggressively than most teams. It is like they almost hard hedge the ice as opposed to playing drop coverage. Then, they will come make a play from the backside when they see an opportunity.

Keys to the Game

• Contain #4 Broome & #2 Williams. You have to aggressively stunt, fake, dig, and double when they have the ball inside. Both are LEFT HANDED!!! Take away their obvious catch-and-shoot 3’s and then make it hard for them inside. Hold them to under 30 combined points.
• Win the 3-point battle. The Auburn Tigers hold opponents to 29.8% shooting from beyond the arc, but also shoot “just” 33.8%. We are going to need to make at least three more 3-point shots than them to have a chance to win.
• REBOUND!!! Auburn gets 34% of their own misses which is 40th nationally. We need to end possessions with a defensive rebound. 75% or better on the defensive glass.
• Shoot 75% or better at the free throw line.