Duke Hands Auburn First Loss of the Season

Auburn falls to arguably its toughest opponent of the season thus far, ending its undefeated start to the season

Auburn's undefeated start is now over / Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images

A fast start was not enough for No. 2 Auburn as it took its first loss of the season at Cameron Indoor Stadium tonight, 84-78, at the hands of No. 9 Duke. 

Auburn shot out of the gate and held a 13-2 lead less than four minutes into the game. The Blue Devils steadily chipped away at the deficit throughout the first half and took a seven-point lead into the locker room at halftime.

“We’re disappointed,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “We played okay, but to beat Duke in here, you’ve got to play better than that. I give them all the credit. Our defense let us down. Duke was brilliant offensively.”

Duke successfully contained Auburn’s star big man Johni Broome during the first half, holding him to five points. This played a role in the Blue Devils’ ability to take control of the game.

“One of the reasons our team has played well so far this year is Johni has been a tremendously consistent player. He’s clearly a player of the year candidate,” Pearl said. “Tahaad has gotten off to a great start as a freshman. You can see his talent and ability to score, his courage.”

The Blue Devils picked up where they left off to begin the second half, leading by as much as 12 points. Johni Broome helped the Tigers get back into the game and the Tigers cut Duke’s lead down to two.

Three-point shooting was a problem for Auburn for much of the second half. Its first made shot from beyond the arc came from Tahaad Pettiford 11 minutes into the half. Miles Kelly followed with another shortly after to bring Auburn within two.

Foul trouble also hindered Auburn tonight. Broome fouled out, Pettiford had four fouls each. Kelly, Dylan Cardwell and Chaney Johnson each had three.

Auburn shot 45.3% from the field, 40% from 3-point range and 83.3% from the free-throw line. The Tigers were co-led in scoring by Broome and Pettiford who each had 20 points, in rebounds by Broome with 12 and in assists by Denver Jones with four.

Duke shot 50% from the field, 40.9% from 3-point range and 63% from the free-throw line. The Blue Devils were led in scoring, rebounds and assists by Cooper Flagg who had 22, 11 and four respectively.

“We learned that we can compete against anyone in the country in any environment,” associate head coach Steven Pearl said, “but we’ve also got to do a better job of playing Auburn basketball, turning teams over, getting back in transition and not letting our offense affect our defense.”

Auburn returns to action on Sunday when it hosts Richmond at 11:00 a.m. CT. SEC Network will carry the television broadcast.

DUKE POSTGAME NOTES

• Duke now leads 5-0 in the all-time series with Auburn. The Blue Devils have won both of the contests played at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The last two games between the two teams have been decided by exactly six points after top-ranked Duke won 78-72 in the semifinals of the 2018 Maui Invitational – Auburn’s only previous meeting with the Blue Devils under head coach Bruce Pearl.

• Wednesday night’s contest was the first meeting on the coaching sidelines between Coach Pearl and Duke head coach Jon Scheyer.

• For the sixth-straight game, Auburn went with the starting lineup of Denver Jones, Miles Kelly, Chad Baker-Mazara, Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell.

• Auburn is now 2-1 on the season when trailing at the half. The Tigers came back to defeat No. 4 Houston and No. 5 Iowa State in the previous two games when they were behind at halftime. Auburn trailed Duke, 43-36, at halftime.

• The Tigers’ 78 points are the most points Duke has allowed this season, one better than Kentucky’s 77 points against the Blue Devils. Auburn’s 10 three-pointers match the 10 by the Wildcats for the most Duke has allowed. AU finished 10-of-25 from 3-point range, reaching double-digit 3-point field goals for the fourth time this season.

• Auburn won the battle of the boards, 39-34, including 24-10 in the second half. The Tigers have outrebounded their opponent in every game but one this season when they were even with Houston. It marked just the second time this season Duke has been outrebounded next to -6 versus Kansas.

• The Tigers pulled down a season-high 15 offensive rebounds resulting in 19 second-chance points, which was also a season high.

• Auburn had only eight turnovers in the game, which is the fifth time this season the Tigers have had fewer than 10 turnovers including the last three games.

• Auburn placed four players in double figures led by Johni Broome and Tahaad Pettiford, who each scored 20 points in the game. Broome recorded his sixth-straight double-double and his fifth-straight game of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds with 20 points and 12 rebounds. He had 15 points and nine boards in the second half, to go with three assists and one block against the Blue Devils. He is averaging 22.2 points and 14.3 rebounds per contest and has shot 57.0 percent (53-of-93) from the floor over his last six games.

• Pettiford added 14 points in the second half and finished in double figures for the fourth time in as many games against ranked opponents on the strength of 4-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.

• Chad Baker-Mazara recorded his sixth-straight game in double figures and his seventh of the season with 17 points including 11 points in the first half. He shot 5-of-8 from the field including 2-of-2 from long range and went 5-of-5 from the foul line. Baker-Mazara also contributed three assists, two rebounds and one blocked shot against the Blue Devils.

• Miles Kelly chipped in with 14 points including 11 points before halftime on 5-of-7 field goals and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. He added three rebounds and three steals against the Blue Devils. Kelly has averaged 15.3 points, including 8-of-17 3-pointers, in his last three games versus Duke. He scored 16 points in both of Georgia Tech’s games against the Blue Devils last season.