Two teams looking to pad their regular-season credentials will meet Saturday afternoon when No. 2 Auburn faces Ohio State in Atlanta.
The Tigers have put together one of the more impressive pre-conference performances in recent memory, having knocked off three teams (Houston, Iowa State and North Carolina) that at the time were ranked in the top 12 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
All three wins came away from home for Auburn (8-1).
The Buckeyes own a pair of victories over two preseason AP Top-25 teams (Texas and Rutgers), and that could loom large at season's end.
Ever since a season-opening, 94-43 demolition of Vermont, the Tigers mostly have looked like a team playing in end-of-season form. That's probably no surprise, as six members of what basically has been a nine-man rotation all logged at least 450 minutes for Auburn last season.
The key is Johni Broome, a do-it-all forward who leads Auburn in scoring (19.6 points per game), rebounding (11.9) and blocks (2.8) and is among the leading candidates for national player of the year.
Broome's ability to step out and hit a 3-pointer, or dish to a teammate on the perimeter, has led to defensive attention placed on him. And that has opened room for Chad Baker-Mazara (13.1 ppg, 47.1 percent on 3-point attempts) and newcomers Tahaad Pettiford (11.3 ppg, 42.6 percent) and Miles Kelly (11 ppg, 49 percent) outside the 3-point arc.
Auburn's relative weakness is its defense, which is giving up an average of 67.1 points per game -- 88th in the nation. Coach Bruce Pearl wasn't happy with it following an 84-78 loss at then-No. 9 Duke on Dec. 4, and Auburn cleaned things up on that side of the floor in Sunday's 98-54 victory vs. Richmond.
"There are certain things that we defend really well, and (Richmond's five-out offense is) one of the things we defend really well," Pearl said after the win. "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."
Ohio State (6-3) also spreads the scoring out, with Bruce Thornton (16.2 ppg), Devin Royal (14.1), John Mobley Jr. (12.9), Micah Parrish (10.2) and Meechie Johnson (9.6) contributing significantly. Thornton (5.1) ranks third in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio.
The Buckeyes, however, could be missing a large part of their bench for Saturday's game.
Ques Glover (3.7 ppg) and Colin White (3.3) have played in three and four games, respectively. Each is dealing with an ankle injury, and neither has played in December.
The availability of 7-foot-1 center Aaron Bradshaw (7.8 points, 4.5 rebounds per game) is also in doubt. Bradshaw is back on the roster after missing five games in the midst of a university investigation into an alleged domestic incident at Bradshaw's off-campus apartment.
Bradshaw, a consensus top-5 recruit in the Class of 2023 who spent his freshman season at Kentucky, has the talent to impact this matchup significantly. Whether he's in shape for Saturday's game remains to be seen.
"The first part is evaluating where he's at physically after being out for an extended period of time," Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said. "That's what these initial days are for. He's got some room to get back to where he was when you prep for in-season mode. How long that'll take, we don't know yet."
Six-foot-9 Sean Stewart likely would have primary defensive responsibility on Broome if Bradshaw is limited or out. Stewart -- a consensus Top-20 recruit from 2023 who spent last year at Duke -- was part of a defensive effort that held Rutgers star freshman Ace Bailey to 6-of-16 shooting in the Buckeyes' 80-66 win over Rutgers on Dec. 7.
--Field Level Media
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