No. 15 Auburn survives USF scare, gets past Bulls 67-59

Another ugly game for the Tigers ends with a win.

Author:
Lance Dawe
Publish date:
Nov 11, 2022 7:54 PM EST

In this story:

Well, that wasn't pretty.

Auburn found themselves down 30-21 at halftime after one of the worst performances of the Bruce Pearl era. However, the Tigers rallied back and found a way to win.

Wendell Green Jr (20 points) and Allen Flanigan (18 points) led the way for Auburn's lackluster offense, which on the game shot 40.2% from the floor, 20% from deep and 62.5% from the foul line. Auburn had 20 turnovers.

A rough one, but a victory nonetheless. You can read through our live blog of the game below.

Second Half: Auburn 67, USF 59 | FINAL

Allen Flanigan — Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

Tigers get a stop. Moore gets a bucket.

Officiating has been suspect today. USF runout leads to a layup. Tigers look bad.

Moore gets into the lane and knocks one down. Tigers force a turnover.

Wendell Green hits a three and Neville explodes. Cardwell blocks it out of bounds and the crowd is back into it. KD got a steal and if he had hit the layup this place would have been insane. Traore gets the ball and is fouled.

He misses both free throws... man oh man. USF dunk, Auburn turnover. U-16 timeout, Auburn down 29-35.

Flanigan finds Green on the break for the lay-in plus the foul. Free throw is no good, Flanigan gets the rebound.

Traore hits a corner three! Tigers down by one! Crowd back in it. USF air balls a free throw but gets another putback dunk. USF players having conversations with the officials. A JUMP BALL gets called on what should have been a foul. Crowd NOT HAPPY.

"Ref you suck" chant is back. Flanigan gets under the basket on an out of bounds play and lays it in. Definitely an angry cheer from Auburn fans.

Ball hits the floor and USF calls a timeout.

USF miss out of the timeout. Long rebound to Donaldson. Flanigan loses his man and hits a three. Auburn leads for the first time since they led 2-0.

Cardwell steal, runout dunk, Auburn by four, Neville is up and it is loud.

Auburn gets a stop and pushes, and Flanigan literally just falls down with the ball on the break. USF layup kills the crowd. U-12 timeout, and Auburn has a 41-39 lead.

Neville Arena is now 2-0 for the season on the Full Moon Cookie challenge.

Broome almost gets an and-one to go out of the timeout. He rattles in the first free throw and swishes the second. Tigers showing pressure that USF breaks for a lob. Easy play.

USF travels. Finally one is called. Wendell Green checks backs in.

Tigers are currently being out-rebounded 34-27. Jasper checks in. USF cuts the lead to one.

Pretty play finds Flanigan on the backdoor cut for the slam, immediately USF gets called for a charge on the inbounds play. Auburn ball.

Cardwell hits two free throws (in this economy?)

Steal, Green on the break, NO LOOK LOB TO CARDWELL. TIMEOUT USF.

Flanigan misses a three, Williams collects the rebound and then finds Flan all alone for the layup.

Foul on USF, U-8 timeout. Auburn up 51-44.

I would hate for this game to go to overtime because I forgot my charger and there's no way my computer makes it.

USF trims the lead to four...

Moore hits a free throw, and there's some confusion following the second one. Timeout on the floor.

It was a foul on Johni Broome. Making sure it wasn't a flagrant foul.

Williams floats one in.

Outside of a couple of turnovers, Allen Flanigan has played very well tonight. Leads all scorers with 17 points (6-9 FG, 3-5 3PT).

Smoooooth reverse from Green makes it 56-49 Auburn.

USF is currently shooting 28.5% this half.

Green gets into the lane for another nice layup.

Yet another putback dunk for USF. Tigers aren't closing out well. The Bulls have 19 offensive rebounds.

Wendell with another layup, and then gets a steal!

Williams misses a three, and Flanigan fights hard for the board - it goes out of bounds off USF. We take our final media timeout of the game, Auburn up 60-52.

Broome gets called for a foul going for a board.

Shot clock violation on Auburn, USF down by six...

Green takes it in and hits the deck HARD. They'll take a look at it. Free throws coming regardless.

Green hits both free throws despite two women bellowing at him to go ahead and shoot it.

Flan misses one of two free throws. USF makes a layup and a timeout is called. 63-56 Auburn.

Zep gets trapped in the corner and calls a timeout.

Green gets fouled and will shoot two. He makes them both to give himself 17 points on the night.

Flanigan fouls and USF will head to the line with 19.3 seconds left. Tyler Harris misses the first and makes the second. 65-57.

Green gets fouled. Crowd getting restless. He makes them both. USF takes a while on offense but gets an and-one bucket to go. 67-59 with nine seconds left.

He misses the free throw and Green slips getting the rebound, turning it over. Seven seconds left.

USF misses a couple of layups and that will do it, Tigers win 67-59.

First Half: Auburn 21, South Florida 30 | HALFTIME

Dylan Cardwell (44) during the season opener between the George Mason Patriots and the #15 Auburn Tigers at Neville Arena in Auburn, AL on Monday, Nov 7, 2022. — Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Auburn controls the tip, and we are underway in Neville Arena. Tigers miss a shot and show a press to slow USF down.

Charge on USF.

USF breaks another Auburn press but throws it out of bounds. Sloppy basketball early.

Man, this is ugly. USF misses two tip-ins but Auburn flounders the rebound out of bounds.

Ref show early. Crowd isn't happy about it. Auburn is 0-4 from the floor with four turnovers.

Shot clock violation on USF and Neville Arena is thankful. A travel should have been called.

Cardwell gives up a post up inside. Stop me if you've heard that before.

He does it again. Cardwell then misses a free throw.

Flanigan makes the first field goal of the game and Neville erupts. Jeez, USF responds with a three at the end of the shot clock. Brutal.

Donaldson gets a nice floater to go. Neville is dying to get into this game.

Flanigan throws a pass to Cardwell on the break that hits him directly in the face and out of bounds. That's eight turnovers in nine minutes of action.

Auburn is fogging them up and missing them. 2-10 from the floor, 1-8 from three.

Tre Donaldson gets a steal and CHRIS MOORE BODIES A USF DEFENDER OH MY LORD

TWO HANDED SLAM ALL OVER SOMEONE

Johni Broome makes a free throw to draw the USF lead to one. And USF hits a three to extend it to four.

A foul takes us to the U-8 timeout. Fans are not happy with the officiating.

Broome misses an open floater. USF outback layup. 11-18 USF.

Flanigan hits another three.

Absurd foul call on what should have been a travel. Crowd hating everything. Replay confirms it was a travel.

USF misses the free throw. Ball don't lie.

USF dunk immediately following an Auburn miss.

Traore lays it in. Tough scene right now. Over the back call on USF takes us to the U-4 timeout. Auburn 16, USF 20

Flanigan makes two free throws to cut the lead to two. He air balls a three, USF runout and a layup.

A Zep Jasper three hits every part of the rim before going out. Another USF makes it 18-26. Tigers look putrid on offense.

Broome gets hit in the face grabbing a rebound and is fouled. He misses the front end of a one-and-one, Moore grabs the rebound, and Williams is fouled. He makes a free throw. Timeout USF.

This has been one of the worst halves of Auburn basketball of the Bruce Pearl era. Will have stats at the end of the half.

USF makes two free throws. Donaldson hits a pretty jumper.

USF skies in for a putback dunk. Broome is fouled. He air balls the first free throw. Misses the second off back iron.

Auburn down 21-30 at half. Wow.

Auburn was 6-24 from the floor, 2-14 from three, 7-13 from the foul line, and had 11 turnovers.