#2 Auburn basketball takes down #16 Purdue in Birmingham
The Auburn basketball team got another big win this weekend, taking down #16 Purdue in Birmingham. Ahead of the season, head coach Bruce Pearl set one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in history, but the Tigers were up to the task. The team won the Maui Invitational and lost only one game on the road against Duke. Just one more non-conference game stands between the Tigers and their SEC opponents.
Saturday's 87-69 was a big victory in more ways than one with the return of Johni Broome, who missed nearly the entire game against Georgia State after sustaining a shoulder injury. Broome led the Tigers with 23 points, followed up by freshman Tahaad Pettiford's 18 points and Chad Baker-Mazara's 15. It was another impressive win, and here's what the players and coaches had to say.
Bruce Pearl on Chad Baker-Mazara, per Auburn Undercover:
"Chad Baker-Mazara is instinctively one of the best players in our league. He just flat out is, and he impacts the game in so many ways. I believe, the last two games, he's got 12 assists and two turnovers. When everybody is challenged, when you play the best teams on your schedule, then your best players have to respond. And I know Chad will."
Johni Broome on Tahaad Pettiford, per Auburn Rivals:
"He's special," Johni Broome said of Pettiford. "He's talented. He better make sure he shows up in the games, I give him a hard time every day, almost. I know he's going to come with it. He has that edge, that dog to him. I know when the lights are bright, he's going to shine as well because that's just how he is and who he is as a person."
Bruce Pearl on the tough non-conference schedule, per Auburn Undercover:
"Again, I'm really proud of our league, and I take — I was concerned about the toughness of our schedule. If we couldn't handle it, we could've hurt our league by being overwhelmed by just the number of Quad 1 opportunities and teams we were playing. But we didn't. We actually helped our league, and that matters to me a great deal."
The Tigers will return to action after Christmas on December 30, when they will host Monmouth in Neville Arena.