The No. 2 Auburn Tigers rebounded from a midweek loss to No. 9 Duke by blowing out Richmond, 98-54 on Sunday at Neville Arena in Auburn.
A major factor leading to Auburn’s bounce-back win was its defensive effort. In Wednesday’s 84-78 loss to college basketball power Duke, Auburn forced just four turnovers while allowing 16 fast break points and 38 points in the paint. Auburn’s defense returned to form by allowing Richmond to shoot just 27% from the field (16-of-59) while dominating the boards with 34 defensive rebounds.
Following Auburn’s win, freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford was asked about his team’s defensive improvements. He shared that defense was a heavy subject at practice following Wednesday’s loss.
“Going to practice, Coach (Pearl) explained a lot how bad our defense was against Duke and how we could’ve fixed it,” Pettiford said. “Coming into this game, we knew Richmond was a team that liked to backdoor. They moved a lot, so we just preached that all week at practice. We just tried to make it work during the game.”
Head coach Bruce Pearl also discussed defensive strategy following the game by saying that his team uses a “system” that runs to fit the looks of what the opposing offense gives them.
“We have a defensive system, and the five-out offense, the Princeton offense, Coach (Chris) Mooney spent time at Princeton, and nobody runs a five-out better. We do know how to guard it. Sometimes guys, it’s about matchups,” Pearl said. “There are certain things that we defend really well, and that’s one of the things we defend really well. Ohio State will bring a completely different offensive system in. We’ll take our defensive system and match it up, but that’s just a good matchup for us. We know how to guard it.”
Auburn’s defense returned to the top 25 of the KenPom after Sunday’s win, and will look to gain ground next Saturday when it travels to Atlanta to compete in the annual “Holiday Hoopsgiving” with Ohio State at State Farm Arena. The Buckeyes own the No. 22 offense in the nation according to KenPom, and ranks No. 28 overall. Should this data hold up, Saturday’s matchup will be major in terms of resume building for the NCAA Tournament.
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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Auburn’s ‘defensive system’ plays huge role in win over Richmond
