No. 15 Auburn defeats George Mason 70-52 in season opener

The Tigers' defense carried them to a season-opening victory.

Lance Dawe | Nov 7, 2022

No. 15 Auburn defeats George Mason 70-52 in season opener /

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Auburn Tigers

It was not a great night for Auburn's offense, but the Tigers found a way to get it done.

No. 15 Auburn defeated George Mason 70-52 on Monday night despite shooting 33.8% from the field and 16.0% from three. The backcourt struggled mightily, with KD Johnson and Wendell Green combining to shoot 9-of-27 from the floor.

The defense, on the other hand, was strong. The Tigers forced 19 GMU turnovers and scored 21 points off of them. Auburn also added 10 blocks (five from Dylan Cardwell) and 14 steals.

You can read our live blog recap of the game below.

Second Half: Auburn 70, George Mason 52 | FINAL

Johni Broome warming up before Auburn basketball takes on George Mason. — Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

Tigers open up the second half with a stop. Jaylin Williams hits a floater.

Block by Broome, dunk in transition. Broome blocks another but it finds its way through the basket.

Chris Moore knocks down a corner three!

Wendell Green hits a mid-range jumper. Tigers back up by 13. Rebound slam by GMU. Jasper responds with a mid-range shot. Auburn up 42-29 after the first timeout of the second half.

Man, this team cannot shoot tonight.

Williams knocks down a pair of free throws. GMU player travels but finishes. A stop and another layup.

A lot of bumping around inside but no foul call. Traore flushes it.

Crowd Full Moon Cookie Shuffle record: 1-0.

String music from deep for Green out of the timeout. A GMU layup makes it a nine point game again. A pair of Flanigan free throws extends it back to 11.

Green telegraphs a pass that gets taken the other way. Broome floats one over the shoulder. Back and forth we go.

Auburn had three good looks at the basket and couldn't finish in transition. Green fouls.

KD finishes, plus a foul. Auburn leads 57-43 with 7:49 left in the game.

Cardwell ERASES a shot at the rim. Five blocks, nine rebounds for Cardwell thus far. Really picked it up after a couple of early defensive lapses.

Zep Jasper is running the point.

Insane hustle play from KD Johnson to save a ball from going out of bounds, but Johni Broome appears to have hurt his ankle going for the ball. Broome is fouled and misses the front end of a one-and-one.

George Mason with a three. Williams with a floater.

Auburn is now 11-21 from the foul line.

Tigers extend the lead to 18 after a Broome post-up. Auburn up 64-46 as we take our final media timeout of the evening.

Tigers force a trap in the half court and GMU has to call a timeout.

The crowd gets their wish - Lior Berman has checked into the game. Broome hits a pair FTs. Auburn up 20. GMU immediately nails a three.

Lior is gonna mess around and scare some folks with a backdoor GMU cover. I can feel it.

Auburn playing aggressive defense late. GMU hits ANOTHER contested three. The lead is 16. Timeout Auburn.

Stretch checks in. Green knocks down the second free throw to give Auburn a 69-52 lead. Nice.

Tigers dribbling it out. Green misses a jumper but Stretch grabs a rebound and gets fouled. The bench checks in. Stretch hits the first free throw and misses the second.

GMU misses a three and that will do it, Tigers win 70-52 in their season opener.

First Half: Auburn 31, George Mason 24 | HALF

George Mason vs Auburn - 2022_11-7-2022_16535 — Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

Auburn controls the tip and we are underway.

Johni Broome taps in a Chris Moore miss to open the scoring. Tigers get a stop and Broome finishes inside next possession. Another stop, and Chris Moore lays it in plus a foul.

It may not be full but Neville Arena is feeling itself early. KD Johnson checks in much to the delight of the crowd. He promptly misses a three. George Mason finishes in transition to earn their first points.

Cardwell slams it home off of a Wendell Green assist. KD Johnson gets a nice screen on the left wing and drives in for an easy layup. Tigers moving smoothly on offense. Another stop, and Wendell Green lays it in on the break.

Timeout Patriots. It's 13-2 under 16. Auburn has doubled GMU's shots and has four offensive rebounds already. Tre Donaldson checks in for Wendell Green after the timeout. George Mason knocks down their second field goal of the game seven minutes in.

KD Johnson knocks down a three to extend the lead back to double digits (16-5). He gets a steal and finds Traore underneath the basket on the break.

Cardwell gets backed down (yet again) and George Mason floats it in. KD misses from the same spot. Travel on GMU, and that takes us to the U-12 timeout. Auburn up 18-7.

Green gets a layup to go out of the timeout. Zep Jasper Steal. Moore misses a layup but Yohan Traore slams it back in. Auburn got a steal on the inbounds pass but Jasper can't knock down the three. Neville Arena was ready to explode.

Auburn is 1-8 from three.

Green with a smooth step-back jumper to extend the lead to 24-7. Broome swats a ball out of bounds on the other end.

Auburn's defense has George Mason in hell.

Tigers get a steal after a rebound off of a miss and Green throws a lob to Broome, but the basket does not count, foul on Green. Tigers lead 25-7 with 7:46 to go in the half.

Nine turnovers, 4-13 from the field for George Mason. If it weren't for Cardwell, I'm not sure if GMU would have more than 3 points right now.

Johnson breaks the scoring drought with a three. Tigers are 2-13 from outside the arc. Yikes.

Two minutes later and Johnson crashes in for the and-one on the break - check that, they say the basket doesn't count, and it's a charge on Johnson.

He had Traore wide open for a lob so that's simply on KD. Bad decision. Offense is really hard to come by right now. George Mason apparently arguing amongst themselves after the timeout.

GMU hits their first three of the game following the timeout. A stop and another three cuts the lead to 12.

Johnson just had a three hit every part of the rim and go out. Opponents have really figured out how to control Green, Jasper and Johnson. They can't shoot at all right now.

Nobody steps out on another George Mason three. Tigers falling asleep on switches. Another turnover, a breakaway dunk, and the lead is 9. Traore misses two free throws. Auburn is 3-9 from the line. Layup from George Mason.

GMU clamps down on Auburn at the end of the half. Tigers up 31-24.

Hedging, applying pressure, and pushing Auburn's offense back towards half court is how to slow the team down. The guards aren't big enough to fight through it.

Pregame

George Mason vs Auburn - 2022_11-7-2022_16543 — Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

The Tigers are currently getting loose in layup lines.

Auburn's starting five tonight vs George Mason:

G Wendell Green Jr.

G Zep Jasper

F Chris Moore

F Jaylin Williams

F Johni Broome

Note: Allen Flanigan started at SF for Auburn's exhibition game against UAH. Johni Broome was questionable for tonight with an ankle injury, but he will start. Chris Moore has appeared in 51 games for the Tigers. This is his first career start.