DURHAM, N.C. - On Wednesday night, the Auburn Tigers (7-1) suffered their first loss of the season against Duke (6-2), 78-84. The Tigers fall to 7-1 on the season as the non-conference schedule comes closer to an end.
The Tigers started off hot in the first half. Miles Kelly and Chad Baker-Mazara hit several early threes that silenced the Cameron Indoor crowd to give Auburn what ended up being their largest lead of the game at 13-2.
The story of the game for Auburn unfortunately came down to foul trouble. Dylan Cardwell, Chaney Johnson, Johni Broome, and Tahaad Pettiford all picked up two personal fouls in the first half. This led to Coach Bruce Pearl using a lineup that hadn’t been used much, if at all, in order to keep his players in the game. Five of Auburn’s players ended up with three or more fouls by the final buzzer.
Duke’s offense came into this game with a bit of an identity crisis, losing both of their big games due to end-of-game miscues and poor shot selection, but tonight the Blue Devils seemed to finally put it all together.
Isaiah Evans came off the bench for Duke and arguably ended this game in the first half. Evans would go on to hit six threes to pull his team from down 16-10 to up by seven points by halftime.
“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,” said Pearl after the game.
Duke was led in scoring by Cooper Flagg, who posted 22 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists, supported by the 18 points from Isaiah Evans.
Auburn punched back in the second half with a major contribution from Tahaad Pettiford, who has been playing his best basketball under the biggest spotlights. Pettiford scored 14 points in the second half to add to his total of 20, including two three-point buckets that sparked momentum within the Tigers.
Despite outscoring Duke in the second half, the Tigers' valiant effort wasn’t enough to climb back on top.
“We have to step it up… Have to be more aggressive on the glass, getting downhill and finishing on the break”, said Pettiford postgame. The rebounding differential favored Duke by nine in the first half, and although the Tigers ended up outrebounding Duke by the end of the game, it turned out to be the first-half offensive rebounds by the Blue Devils that put the game just out of reach.
Johni Broome continued to play like a Wooden Award nominee despite the loss. Broome finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds, his sixth straight double-double.
Five games are left before SEC conference play, and the Tigers will return to Neville Arena to tip off at 11 a.m. on Dec. 8 to take on Richmond. The game will be found on SEC Network and the Auburn Sports Network.
