IU Basketball game day essentials: Indiana in Atlanta to face Auburn

It’s a homecoming game for Mike Woodson as his squad faces Auburn on his old coaching grounds.

Woodson’s Hoosiers are seeking their fifth straight win and a postseason resume boost in a neutral court nonconference matchup in Atlanta.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Saturday battle between the Big Ten and the SEC:

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Game Day Essentials:

Auburn (5-2) (0-0) vs. Indiana (7-1) (2-0)

• Tip Time: 2:00 p.m. Eastern, Saturday
• Location: State Farm Center (16,888), Atlanta, Ga.
• Television: ESPN2 (Dave O’Brien, Jimmy Dykes)
• Stream:  ESPN
• IU Radio Network: IU Radio Network
• Point Spread: Auburn is around a 7-point favorite.
• KenPom Projected Score: No. 65 Indiana 70 – No. 17 Auburn 77
• Series: Indiana leads the series, 1-0.

Ware and Reneau among five list as questionable for Indiana vs. Auburn

Auburn’s Bruce Pearl

Bruce Pearl is in his 10th season as head coach of the Tigers. Over his seasons at Auburn, Pearl has a 192-113 record with two conference regular season championships and one conference tournament trophy. Pearl was named SEC Coach of the Year in 2022 as his team went 28-6 (15-3) and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Pearl’s head coaching career includes stints at Tennessee, Milwaukee, and Southern Indiana before ending up at Auburn. At Tennessee, Pearl won SEC Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2008. With the Volunteers, Pearl led the team to a NCAA Tournament appearance in each of his six seasons, with his best finish in the Elite Eight in 2010. Overall, Pearl had a record of 145-61 before being fired due to NCAA recruiting violations in 2011.

During his time at USI, Pearl led the Screaming Eagles to a NCAA D-II Tournament appearance in each of his nine seasons as head coach. In 1995, Pearl’s team won the tournament with a 29-4 overall season record.

Pearl does have ties to Indiana and another Big Ten program from early on in his career. From 1982 to 1986, Pearl was an assistant coach on Stanford where Tim Knight, the son of Bob Knight, was a grad assistant. Afterward, Pearl was an assistant coach at Iowa before he became a head coach.

Auburn’s results and roster

Auburn’s game notes (via Auburn Athletics)

HOLIDAY HOOPSGIVING HISTORY

• Auburn is 2-1 all-time in Holiday Hoopsgiving games. The Tigers beat Memphis, 74-71, in 2020 and Nebraska, 99-68, in 2021. Last season, Memphis bested AU, 82-73, at State Farm Arena.
• This will be the largest crowd Auburn will play in front at State Farm Arena in a Holiday Hoopsgiving game. More than 11,000+ tickets have been sold in the 16,600-capacity venue.
• Fellow SEC member Mississippi State plays Tulane in the game prior to the AU-IU showdown.

DOMINATING THE PAINT

• Auburn has scored a season-high 42 points in the paint the last two games against Virginia Tech and Appalachian State. The Tigers have also scored 40+ points in the paint in three-straight games after totaling 40 paint points against Alabama A&M on No. 21.
• Over that stretch, AU has averaged 41.3 points in the paint per game. For the season, the Tigers are averaging 37.7 points per game in the paint, which is 48.0 percent of the team’s total points.
• The Tigers have outscored their opponent in the paint in 6-of-7 games this season and were even with St. Bonaventure in paint points. Auburn is plus-68 (9.7 ppg) on points in the paint for the season.

MR. DOUBLE-DOUBLE

• Junior big man Johni Broome recorded his second-straight game with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds with 21 points and 13 rebounds at Appalachian State on Dec. 3, after posting a 30-point, 13-rebound performance against Virginia Tech on Nov. 29.
• It was the second time in his career Broome has posted consecutive games of 20 points and 10 rebounds and the first time since the 2021-22 season when he scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds at ETSU and followed that up with 20 points and 12 rebounds at Xavier, while at Morehead State. It is one of 17 30-point, 10-rebound games by a NCAA Division I player this season.
• Broome has recorded 50 career double-doubles (14 of those at Auburn). His 30-point, 13-rebound outing versus the Hokies was the first 30-point/10-rebound game by an Auburn player since Mustapha Heron had 31 points and 10 rebounds vs. Winthrop on Nov. 24, 2017.
• He is one of 20 NCAA Division I players to record a double-double in each of his team’s first two games this season.
• Broome has scored in double figures in 16-straight games including all seven games this season. He ranks second in the SEC averaging 9.1 rpg and fourth in scoring at 18.3 ppg. Broome is the only league player who is ranked in the Top 5 in both the scoring and rebounding columns.

FRESHMAN PHENOM

• Freshman Aden Holloway is one of 13 NCAA Division I freshmen including one of six from a power conference, averaging 10.0 points, 3.0 assists and shooting at least 75.0 percent from the free-throw line this season. He has scored in double figures in four of his first seven career games.
• For the season, Holloway is tied for seventh in the SEC averaging 2.14 three-pointers per game. He is also tied for 13th among league leaders in assists (3.3 avg.).
• With his two starts in Brooklyn against Notre Dame and St. Bonaventure, point guard Aden Holloway became the 15th different freshman to start a game for Auburn in Bruce Pearl’s 10 seasons as head coach on The Plains. Jabari Smith leads all Auburn freshmen under Pearl with 34 starts in 2021-22. The group has combined to start 261 games.

CLOSING IN ON 1,000

• K.D. Johnson (Georgia-Auburn combined) and Jaylin Williams are all closing in on 1,000 career points. Johni Broome (1,579), Chaney Johnson (1,225) and Denver Jones (1,004) have already reached that milestone in their combined Morehead State Auburn, UAH-Auburn and FIU-Auburn careers respectively.
• Williams would become the 39th player in program history to gain entrance into the 1,000-Career Point Club – the first in five years since Bryce Brown (8th, 1,673) and Jared Harper (13th, 1,227) did so during their senior campaigns that ended in the 2019 national semifinals.

Auburn’s KenPom notable numbers:

(out of 362 teams)

Tempo – No. 108 (Offense No. 32 / Defense No. 341)

Offensive Efficiency – No. 33

• Auburn has a decent make rate from twos at 53.4 percent (No. 79 in the country) but does struggle when shooting from three — at a 29.6 percent clip (No. 290). Both combined give them an effective field goal percentage of 50 percent (No. 180).
• The Tigers have one of the best offensive rebounding rates in the country at 37.9 percent (No. 17) and get to the free throw line at a high rate of 42 percent for every field goal attempted (No. 34).
• The Tigers are among the best when it comes to sharing the ball. Their 67.7 percent assist rate for every field goal made is one of the best in the country (No. 3).

Defensive Efficiency – No. 14

• Auburn has a high-quality defense that stops a lot of scoring at any level. Opponents are shooting just 42.7 percent from two (No. 17 in the country) and 26.7 percent from three (No. 19). Both stats help hold opponents to an effective field goal percentage of just 41.8 percent (No. 7).
• The Tigers excel particularly well in the paint. Opponents are getting blocked at a 15 percent rate shooting against Auburn’s defense (No. 22). Perhaps on a related note, they have been a bit mediocre at giving up second chances, as opponents are getting offensive rebounds at a 29.4 percent rate (No. 172).
• One method of scoring that Auburn has yet to find an answer for are points from the charity stripe. Opponents are getting to the line at a 39.6 percent rate (FTA/FGA, No. 282) and are scoring 26.6 percent of their total points from free throws (sixth most in the country).
• A low volume of opponent 3-point attempts and low opposing assisted field goals suggest Auburn likes to run teams off the arc and force them into a lot of one-on-one dribble-drives.

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