Takeaways: Auburn Basketball Defeats LSU Tigers, 93-78
It got scary in the second half, but the Auburn Tigers managed to pull away.
Auburn lead LSU by 28 points with less than 12 minutes to go in the second half, but a flurry from the Bayou Bengals cut the lead to eight as the game wound down. Thankfully a few stops and a couple of flashy scores in transition gave the Tigers a 93-78 win.
Here are three takeaways from the win.
Life In The Fast Lane
Auburn outran LSU all night long, making. living through points in transition. The home Tigers scored 26 transition points compared to LSU's 12.
The pace at which Auburn operates has drastically improved compared to the last two seasons. With the personnel to get out and run, Pearl has elected to ramp things back up to where they used to be offensively.
It's a breath of fresh air.
Can You Stand The Rain
It was raining in the jungle today.
Both teams had a solid outing from beyond the arc, shooting a combined 19-of-48 (39.5) from deep. Auburn was shooting 50% or better for the majority of the contest but cooled off for the final ten minutes of the game. Holloway, who hit his first two threes for the second game in a row, finished just 3-of-10 from three.
A 21-2 run from LSU in the second half -which featured a major lull from the floor for AU - did not help the Auburn Tigers' statistical cause.
Cash In, Cash Out
LSU has been known for creating havoc on defense this season, sitting in the top 10 nationally in steal percentage. They weren't able to create that chaos against the Tigers, and in turn, Auburn created some steals of their own.
And they cashed in on them.
LSU had just six steals to Auburn's 16 - and 10 points off of turnovers compared to Auburn's 26. Chad Baker-Mazara, who finished with a game-high 19 points, also stole the ball six times himself.
It was a great performance from Auburn's defense in the first half. Not so much in the second - but there will be nights where the Tigers can't put two dominant halves together like they have at times this season.
