Takeaways: Tigers Use Strong First Half to Push Past St Bonaventure in Legends Classic Championship

The Auburn Tigers have now won three straight in convincing fashion following their season-opening loss to Baylor.

Tonight, Bruce Pearl and the Tigers were once again victorious, defeating St Bonaventure 77-60 in the Legends Classic championship game.

It was a contest dominated by Auburn for 25 minutes before the Bonnies finally woke up in the second half. It was too little too late as Auburn rode strong performances from Johni Broome, Jaylin Williams and Denver Jones to a win.

Here are four takeaways from the victory.

Johni Broome cleaned house

Everyone be thankful the Tigers were playing St Bonaventure and not the No. 1 seeded Houston Cougars.

Despite an extremely poor performance from the foul line (4-of-11), Broome finished the game with 18 points, and five rebounds on 7-of-11 shooting.

Denver Jones stepped up

Aden Holloway had his first off night in an Auburn uniform, shooting 2-of-10 from the floor - but FIU transfer Denver Jones stepped up in his offensive absence, scoring 12 points and hitting all three of his outside shots. The Tigers are going to need players like Jones to rise to the occasion when the talented freshman guard is in a slump.

Tre Donaldson also went 1-of-2 from beyond the arc.

How will Auburn respond in tougher second halves?

The Tigers shot sub-40% from the floor and just 1-of-10 from deep in the second half. The Bonnies, who also shot poorly in the final 20 minutes, were still able to crawl back into the game and cut the lead to 11 at one point.

Auburn will face much better teams with significantly better three-point shooters. They were able to control the game and maintain their lead in the end... but how will Pearl and the team respond to more serious adversity down the road?

Getting games like this one under the belt should help.

The Legends Classic field simply could not shoot

Outside of Auburn, the three other teams in the Legends Classic field shoot an average of 22.3% from beyond the arc (including tonight's two contests of Oklahoma State/Notre Dame and Auburn/St Bonaventure.

The Bonnies went 3-of-24 against the Tigers tonight. Yikes.

The field could not shoot the rock. Is it Auburn's improved three-point defense after a disappointing performance against Baylor? Or is it because none of the other three teams here can't shoot at all?

What's next?

The Tigers return to Neville Arena next Tuesday, November 21st, to play Alabama A&M. Tipoff time is at 7:00 pm CT and can be seen on ESPN+.

Alabama A&M is currently ranked No. 339 nationally on KenPom.

Recruiting pages to bookmark

2024 Auburn Tigers Commitment List and Evaluations

2025 Auburn Tigers Commitment List and Evaluations

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