The Auburn Tigers (2-1) opened it’s legend classic run with a 83-59 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-2). The Tigers showed Brooklyn what they could do by way of a dominated second half performance in the Barclays Center outscoring the Irish 44-26.
"The second half was the best we've looked in the second half in a while," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "I think the guys are definitely locked in. We did what we were supposed to do tonight. We played great second half defense. It's a good win for our league."
Freshman Aden Holloway would lead the way for the Tigers with nine points in the second half leading to a total of 15 points in total.
Holloway would also cement his status as a freshman leader by playing for 23 minutes, matching both Jaylin Williams and Chris Moore for most minutes on the floor.
Tre Donaldson would lead the bench with 10 points helping Auburn’s bench get to a total of 30 points on the night. Donaldson and Holloway would combine for 10 assists on the night.
"Outstanding point guard play. Aden and Tre have done a great job all year long," Pearl said. "They've had great competition all summer and fall. We're going to have a good point guard out there at all times. We shared the ball well."
The Tigers defense traveled to New York as well especially in the second half holding the Irish to a 22% field goal percentage, and 0-13 from beyond the arc. Every Notre Dame player was in the negative in the plus/minus department as well.
"Holding Notre Dame to 22 percent away from our bench like that, the guys took pride in it," Pearl said.
Notre Dame would get most of their points in the paint with a total of 36 coming up just behind Auburn’s 38 points in the paint.
The 24-point margin of victory is the largest the Tigers have had in non-conference play since playing the Cornhuskers of Nebraska back in 2021 with that game ending 99-68.
Auburn will have the opportunity tomorrow to remain unbeaten in the legends classic and win the championship against the Saint Bonaventure Bonnies Friday November 17th at 6:00 p.m. CT. The game will be brodcasted on ESPN2 and the Aubrun Sports Network.
The Bonnies themselves are coming off an exciting 66-64 win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
"We have an opportunity to win a championship tomorrow," Pearl said. "Let's see if we can keep getting better."
