No. 2 Auburn focuses on defensive improvement vs. Richmond

No. 2 Auburn focuses on defensive improvement vs. Richmond

No. 2 Auburn discovered it can play with anyone over its first seven games before its defense slipped a few notches against a high-quality opponent.

The Tigers (7-1) will look to get back on track Sunday afternoon against visiting Richmond.

Auburn is in the midst of playing one of the toughest schedules in Division I, having banked wins over ranked foes Houston, Iowa State and North Carolina along with recording a blowout victory against Memphis to win the Maui Invitational. The Tigers allowed an average of 66.5 points during their first seven victories, but their defense struggled in an 84-78 loss to No. 9 Duke on Wednesday.

Auburn allowed its most points all season by allowing 50 percent shooting and struggling to defend Cooper Flagg, who finished with 22 points.

"We're disappointed," Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said. "We played OK, but to beat Duke in here, you've got to play better than that. I give them all the credit. Our defense let us down. Duke was brilliant offensively."

The Tigers saw their defense falter after speeding to a 13-2 lead but wound up getting outscored 82-65 the rest of the game. Auburn trailed by seven at halftime and by 12 on three occasions in a game in which it gave up 16 fast-break points and 20 on second-chance opportunities.

"I hope what they take is we did not play our A-game," Pearl said. "We probably played a B-minus game. Duke had a lot to do with it. But we've got to leave here thinking that we should've played better, turned them over more, not gotten beat on the boards as much as we did, and we get out of here with a win. So I think the stuff that we didn't do, I think we can control."

Even with Auburn playing a "B-minus game," in Pearl's estimation, it continued to get a standout performance from Johni Broome, who collected 20 points and 12 rebounds for his sixth straight double-double and his sixth game with at least 20 points this season.

Auburn will face Richmond ahead of non-conference games against Ohio State and Purdue. The Tigers will encounter a Spiders team that has topped 75 points twice.

Richmond (4-4) was picked for seventh in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, and the team's 46.3 percent shooting from the field is the second-best in the 15-team conference.

The Spiders are led by DeLonnie Hunt's average of 20 points per game on 50.5 percent shooting from the floor. Hunt scored a career-high 28 points in a 73-60 win over Ball State on Nov. 27 during the Gulf Coast Showcase.

Hunt sank 15 free throws and led a defense that turned an 11-point deficit into a win. Richmond held Ball State to 12 points in the final 14 minutes to follow a showing in which it held Louisiana Tech without a basket for the final 6:58 of a 65-62 setback.

"I thought the last two nights our defense has been so, so improved," Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. "We're grinding. We're grinding."

The Spiders held Broome to six points when he was a freshman at Morehead State in November 2020. They will seek their seventh win over a top-10 team and 17th victory over a ranked opponent since Mooney took over in 2005-06.

--Field Level Media