Auburn figures to rise from No. 2 to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday, but the Tigers won’t have their best player for their Tuesday night Southeastern Conference game against visiting Mississippi State.
Forward/center and player of the year candidate Johni Broome was helped off the floor during Saturday’s 66-63 win at South Carolina with what coach Bruce Pearl termed a significant ankle sprain.
An MRI on Sunday confirmed the post-game diagnosis. Surgery is not required, but a timeline for Broome’s return isn’t available yet.
Pearl is preparing the Tigers (15-1, 3-0) to be without their 6-foot-10 anchor, who leads the team in scoring (17.9 points per game), rebounding (10.7), assists (3.2) and blocked shots (2.7).
“Without our player of the year, it’s going to be hard to find offense,” Pearl said. “Johni’s unstoppable down there. It’s going to be just like it was for us in the second half — got to be the next man up.”
Fifth-year senior Dylan Cardwell, who averages 5.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots, might get the first shot at replacing Broome. Cardwell made a key contribution to Saturday’s win with a late dunk that put Auburn ahead 64-63 with 1:32 remaining.
Without Broome’s offense, the Tigers — who have won eight straight games — figure to get more shots for their five other double-figure scorers, led by Chad Baker-Mazara (12.7 ppg). Tahaad Pettiford (11.3), who sank the clinching foul shots at South Carolina, could also see an increased role within Auburn’s offense.
It will be interesting to see if the Tigers can maintain their high level of efficiency on offense when Broome is out. The 14th-ranked Bulldogs (14-2, 2-1) are known for their tenacity on defense as they force 14.6 turnovers per game and enter Monday tied for 11th in the nation with 10.1 steals per game.
Mississippi State missed on a chance to make an early statement in the SEC on Saturday night when its normally staunch defense gave up 16 3-pointers in a 95-90 home loss to No. 6 Kentucky. It was the Bulldogs’ 18th straight regular-season loss to the Wildcats dating to 2009. The defeat also snapped the Bulldogs’ eight-game winning streak this season.
But coach Chris Jans said the biggest problem was on the offensive end, even though the 90 points marked the team’s most against an SEC opponent in his three seasons at Mississippi State.
“I was a little surprised by some of our shots,” he said. “They just were almost like they were surprised they were open so I should shoot it. I thought we have multiple guys take some shots that were like, ‘We don’t need that.'”
The Bulldogs fell in love with 3-pointers, taking 40, but the hoop didn’t quite return that affection. Mississippi State made just 12 triples, with the team’s leading scorer this season, Josh Hubbard, managing 3 on 11 tries.
“I’ve got unbelievable confidence in Josh,” Jans said. “He’s proven over the course of a year-and-a-half that he’s a prolific scorer and he shoots shots that sometimes wouldn’t be a great shot for someone else just because of his stature and his power and his game.”
Hubbard averages 17 points a game and has made 37.3 percent of his 3-pointers, though he’s shooting just 30.8 percent from distance over the last 12 games.
The Tigers own an 83-71 lead in the all-time series and have won nine of the last 11 matchups.
–Field Level Media
