Auburn basketball falls to Israel National Team 95-86
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The Tigers fall in their final game of their Israel trip.
The Israeli National team defeated Auburn 95-86 on Monday afternoon behind Deni Avdija's 25 points. Avdija was the No. 9 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
The Tigers struggled to stay in front of Israel, who ran some tremendous sets in the half court that Auburn continued to overcommit on. By virtue, Israel drew 46 fouls and shot over 40 free throws.
It was a great learning experience for Bruce Pearl's Tigers, who had cruised through their first two Israeli contests (119-56 win over the Israeli U-20 team, and a 107-71 win over the Israeli Select All-Star team).
You can read the live blog recap of the game below.
Fourth Quarter, Auburn 86, Israel National 95, FINAL
© Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK
Tigers need to finish a defensive possession without a foul or a bucket. They do just that to start. KD Johnson gets a foul in transition. Two free throws, Auburn down by eight. Broome gets a block, Westry draws a foul. Israel has a player down.
Johnson misses, gets the ball back, and draws a foul. Two more free throws for KD, and Auburn is down by six. Israel turns it over. Important possession for the Tigers.
Johnson puts his defender on the floor but misses the three. Foul on Israel on the rebound. Donaldson hits a midrange, and the lead is four. 64-68. Auburn gets a steal, and Chris Moore gets fouled. Tigers applying pressure, timeout Israel.
Moore makes the first, misses the second - but Israel knocks it out of bounds, Tiger ball. Donaldson too strong on a jumper. Israel misses a three. Johni Broome gets a tip in after a Johnson miss, and the lead is now one. Foul on Chris Moore. Israel breaks the drought with two free throws.
KD Johnson turns it over, Israel jumper. Lead is back to five. Johnson misses, Moore turns it over. Auburn foul. Auburn losing their momentum.
Israel Layup makes it a seven point lead. Auburn misses a shot. Tigers need a basket. Green draws a foul. He makes both free throws to make it 69-74. Green has 17 points.
A layup rims out for Israel, and Auburn gets it back. Turnover. Kick ball saves an easy layup. Offensive foul on Avdija. Green gets blocked, and Israel gets a bucket on the other end. 69-76. Jasper gets knocked down, no foul. Foul and one for Israel, and that likely will do it. The lead is back to 10 after Auburn cut it to one.
Broome gets a layup. and Green fouls Israel for no apparent reason. Free throws.
Jasper gets thrown to the ground again, this time a foul. Jasper cuts it to seven. 73-80. Broome gets called for a questionable reaching foul. 41 free throws for Israel. They've made 30 of them.
Avdija gets called for his fourth foul. Broome misses his free throws, but Moore is there on the second to tap it in. Baseball pass intercepted by Broome, Green drives in and gets fouled, and Avdija (25 points) has fouled out with two minutes and change to go.
Green hits both free throws to get it back to five. Johnson fouls when he doesn't need to. Lead is back to seven.
Johnson gets the two back with a quick layup. Israel is fouled on a shot. Johnson is upset, but he did foul.
Israel hits both free throws, and Broome gets a layup. Hold on Chance Westry. Tigers fouling when they don't need to. Pearl is not happy. "Quit fouling him," Pearl yells at Westry after fouling the same player over and over again. Israel makes both free throws.
Auburn steal. Tigers have three tips miss, and Israel gets a dunk. That might do it. Broome gets a jumpsuit to go. 92-83. Israel gets a lob. Green fogs up a three and Israel will hold it. Nope- three bal from the wing. 95-83, lead is back to 12. Jasper hits a three at the end, and Auburn loses 86-95.
Third Quarter: Auburn 58, Israel National 68
© Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK
It takes Israel 14 seconds to draw their first foul. A scrums ends with the ball going out of bounds to Israel. Broome steals the inbounds pass, and another foul this time on Israel.
Auburn misses two tips but Chance Westry recovers the ball and finds Moore for the dunk. Game tied, travel on Israel. Johnson misses another three. Auburn fouls Israel on a three. They make all free throws to go back up.
Moore gets open on a flex cut. Tigers down by one. Free throws from Broome give the Tigers the lead - but wait, yet another foul on Auburn. Israel hits two and lead by one. Auburn turnover, another foul. A combined six fouls already in this second half.
A free throw shooting contest? It's starting to feel like Auburn basketball.
Both teams turn it over. Johnson misses a three, Broome grabs the rebound and is fouled. We head to the break with Israel up 49-47.
Cardwell throws it into the stands after a miscommunication.
Auburn turnover, and Israel gets a dunk off the break. Two offensive rebounds, and a deep three for Israel. Auburn falling apart on defense right now. Green fogs up a floater and misses. Flanigan leads in transition, and spins into the lane for a layup plus the foul. Nice control from Flanigan in a situation that could get out of hand.
Lane violation dismisses the free throw. Another dunk from Israel. Flanigan misses a three. Another dunk for Israel, this time with a foul. Auburn down by 10 now. Avdija has 23 points has has drawn 11 fouls. Traore knocks down a pair of free throws.
Backdoor cut for Avdija and he throws a reverse down. The top 10 pick is playing out of his mind.
20 assists on 23 field goals for Israel. Foul on Broome. 32 free throws for Israel, and we haven't even reached the fourth quarter. Auburn down by 10 at the break.
Broome hits a floater out of the timeout. He's got excellent touch. Another foul on Auburn.
Green gets himself open for a three and hits. Auburn down seven. Israel responds with a three of their own. Tigers can't catch a break.
Flanigan leaves it short, was likely fouled according to Jay Bilas. Israel misses a three at the end of the third quarter.
68-58 Israel...
Second Quarter: Auburn 41, Israel National 43
© Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK
Misses two wide-open shots to start. Traore gets blocked on the other end.
Flanigan misses, but Cardwell is there to clean it up. Tigers lead. Two free throws from Green make it 24-20. Auburn fronts the post, Israel slips to the basket for a layup.
Cardwell drives in and drops it off to Traore for the dunk. Smooth play. Another great pass leads to a floater for Israel. Their offensive architecture is sound. Jasper hits his second three. Free throws for Israel. Tigers lead 29-26 with 6:52 to go in the second quarter.
Broome gets a nice turnaround to go off the flex set. 31-27. Immediate layup for Israel. Three-on-one for Israel, and they cash in plus a foul. 31-32 Israel with 4:51.
Another foul on Auburn. That's 10 in the first half so far. Two more free throws for Israel. 31-34. Tigers going cold.
Israel steps out of bounds for the third time today. Auburn has turned Israel over a bit, but some of the errors have been unforced. Green responds with a deep three. Israel proceeds to hit a three, plus a foul on Jaylin Williams. Israel cannot hit the three.
Broome misses everything on a layup but Auburn gets it back. Foul on Israel. Pacing in this game has slowed down tremendously. Green has another logo three rim out, but he gets a steal on the break. He'll head to the line to try and give Auburn the lead back. He misses the second, game is tied at 37.
Israel gets another and-one basket. Tigers are overcommitting to screens and are allowing Israel to move the defense around easily. Broome gets a nice step through layup to go. Nice touch.
Israel turns it over and Green gets inside for a layup. Tigers lead! Timeout Israel.
Auburn does a better job of staying in front of Israel for half a possession before Flanigan gets blown by. He fouls to prevent an easy layup. A free throw ties it at 41.
Offensive foul. Moving screen. Israel gets the ball back, and draws another foul. Three fouls on Dylan Cardwell now. Israel has now shot 20 free throws in the first half. They're up by two.
Auburn misses a layup, and Chris Moore is down. Israel misses a wide-open three and a floater, and the Tigers are down 41-43 heading into halftime.
First Quarter: Auburn 20, Israel National 20
© Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Auburn forces an immediate turnover but can't cash in on the lob. Israel hits a three.
Israel grabs two offensive rebounds but cannot finish the possession. Shot clock violation on Auburn.
Yohan Traore knocks down two free throws to put Auburn on the board. 2-3 Israel.
Israel misses an open three, gets a rebound, and hits another one. Traore scores on the other end. Tigers getting worked right now. Israel's ball movement has been phenomenal.
Jaylin Williams almost loses the ball but hits a mirage jumper. More great ball movement, another Israel jumper.
Williams hits a dunk, but the ball goes through the net and out. The shot does not count. Chris Moore gets his first points on a nine inbounds pass. Floater from Israel. Chris Moore gets another layup. 10-12 Israel, back and forth we go.
KD Johnson gets a wide-open shot in transition and bricks it. Flanigan misses a contested three. Israel is getting great looks but isn't hitting as often as they would like.
A free throw extends the lead to three. 10-13.
Johnson gets another look from the same spot he missed from and hits. Tied at 13. Israel hits a layup, Auburn gets a 10-second violation. Auburn is struggling to get pressure on the ball. Chris Moore gets another tip-in after a miss, and we are tied again heading into the break.
Chance Westry gets called for his second intentional foul of the trip. Two free throws for Israel before they turn the ball over.
Wendell Green Jr. gets all the way into the zone and finishes. Back-to-back fouls on Auburn, more free throws for Israel.
Green drops his man on a stop and go move and finds Zep Jasper for three. More great passing leads to an Israel three. Israel gets called for a foul right before the end of the quarter.
Flanigan misses a layup, and we go to the second quarter tied at 20. Fun game so far.
Pregame
© Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK
Both teams are currently warming up. Deni Avdija, the No. 9 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, will be playing for the Israel National Team. He also currently plays for the Washington Wizards. He averaged 8.4 points per game on 43.2% shooting in 2021 for the Wizards.
Auburn's starting five:
#1 Wendell Green Jr. (G, Jr.)
#12 Zep Jasper (G, Sr.)
#22 Allen Flanigan (G/F, Sr.)
#21 Yohan Traore (F, Fr.)
#44 Dylan Cardwell (C, Jr.)
An interesting note here from Auburn basketball's Twitter:
The Israel National Team is currently No. 42 in the FIBA Basketball World Cup rankings averaging 79.3 ppg & 41.2 rpg. It last defeated Estonia, 96-77, in a qualifier played on July 3rd in Tel Aviv.
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