At the Buzzer: Auburn 104, Indiana 76

  • 12/09/2023 4:24 pm in

Quick thoughts on a 104-76 loss to Auburn:

How it happened

It was a quick start for Indiana on Saturday at the State Farm Center in Atlanta. The Hoosiers raced to a 22-10 lead in the first seven minutes on the strength of 3-pointers. The momentum, however, was short-lived. Indiana made just one field goal in the final 10:12 of the first half and got blitzed by Auburn. The Tigers scored 42 points (a 42-12 run) in the final 12:33 of the opening 20 minutes to open a 52-34 lead at intermission. Auburn outscored Indiana 20-10 in the paint, 11-0 on points off of turnovers and 17-6 off the bench in the first half. Auburn brought the fight after getting hit early by IU and the Hoosiers didn’t fight back. Kel’el Ware and Malik Reneau were a combined 4-for-15 from the field.

The Hoosiers cut the lead to 11 at 57-46 on a layup by Trey Galloway with 15:59 to play, but Auburn answered with a 3-pointer by Jaylin Williams to lead 60-46 at the under-16 media timeout. Auburn stretched its lead to 24 points on a 3-pointer by Lior Berman with 9:21 to play. Indiana never seriously challenged the Tigers in the second half as the Hoosiers dropped to 7-2 and will now have a week off before hosting Kansas. It was a soft, disappointing performance from an IU team that had shown some promise recently by opening Big Ten play 2-0.

Standout performer

Reneau led the Hoosiers with 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting in 31 minutes. The sophomore from Miami, Florida also had seven rebounds.

Statistics that stand out

Auburn dominated in most of the key statistical areas. The Tigers outscored the Hoosiers 15-2 on points off of turnovers, 40-21 in bench points and 32-30 in the paint. Auburn also hit 14 3-pointers compared to just six for Indiana.

Final IU individual statistics

Final tempo-free statistics

Assembly Call postgame show

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

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