NCAA Basketball: Purdue, Duke, fall in latest top 25 power ranking
By Joey Loose
24. Auburn (5-1)
Auburn opened the season with a tough game against Baylor, losing by six points to a talented Bears squad in South Dakota. Since then Bruce Pearl’s squad has played inspired basketball, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Auburn won the Hall of Fame Tip-Off a few weeks ago and have given up 60 points or less in their last four games, including this past week’s lone contest.
The Tigers hosted Virginia Tech on Wednesday as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge and took care of business for themselves and their conference. Clemson defeated the Hokies 74-57 with what might be their best defensive effort of the entire year. Not only did that frontcourt significantly limit Virginia Tech’s interior offense but Johni Broome was masterful with 30 points and 13 rebounds in the victory.
While the Tigers don’t have a resume full of wins that jump out, they’ve played really solid basketball and sit in great position with many of the analytics and other metrics. Broome is becoming more and more of a monster in this frontcourt and the defense delivered twice against ACC opponents this season. Auburn has a matchup with Indiana this upcoming Saturday, though they can’t overlook a true road test at Appalachian State on Sunday either.