Some people show their love by standing outside of someone’s house blasting love songs through a boombox.
The Auburn Tigers (18-8 SEC: 8-5) show their love by dominating the Missouri Tigers (19-7 SEC: 7-6) 89-56 in a Saint Valentine’s Day game that saw Auburn make a statement in a must-win scenario for a March campaign.
"This helps, but we've still got work to do," said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl on the win going towards the march campaign.
Auburn’s domination started with Allen Flanigan making a three, starting a 19-2 run that lasted the first seven minutes of the first half. Flanigan would produce 16 points, three rebounds, and a highlight-level poster at the nine-minute mark to extend the Auburn lead to 30-6.
"I almost got a tech for running on the court. Dylan grabbed me and held me for like 10 seconds," said K.D. Johnson when asked what his reaction to the dunk was.
Flannigan was not the only Auburn player to fill up the stat sheet and highlight reel, Johni Broome finished as the points leader with 20, as well as 10 rebounds and two assists.
A scary moment occurred with 17:33 left in the second half as Broome got a massive dunk that made it 51-25, but Broome fell hard grabbing his knee as Cardwell went in for him. Broome would return to the game just three minutes later.
"I'm gonna be alright. Just kind of a tough fall," said Broome.
Auburn’s bench combined for 33 points headlined by K.D. Johnson with 15 points, four rebounds, and three steals. Another bench player that produced was Lior Berman who finished with eight points and finished 2-2 from beyond the arc.
Auburn’s three-pointing would finish at 50% a jump from the season average of 29%.
"We had nine. It felt like we had 19,” said Pearl “we got open shots, the ball moved really well."
Auburn also dominated the boards finishing with a total of 48 rebounds 16 of which came on the offensive end.
Some people were curious about the crowd considering it was not only a school night but a holiday as well. However, the Jungle was popping as always helping will Auburn on to a big-time win after the three-game losing streak.
"They're always rocking, They're the No. 1 fans out here in the country to me," said Johnson
Auburn will look to build off this win on the road to March Madness with their next opponent in the Vanderbilt Commodores on February 18th in Nashville, with tip-off set for 7:30 pm.
