Auburn doesn't look ahead to weekend's 1 vs 2 matchup, handles Vanderbilt on the road

Fresh off a home loss to Florida this past weekend, the Auburn Tigers responded, earning a gritty 80-68 win in Nashville over a Vanderbilt team that has continued to be a tough out for any ranked-team throughout the season.

The Tigers got off to a fast start in front of the road crowd that looked to still have plenty of orange and blue sprinkled throughout. Bolstered by Vanderbilt turnovers and stellar rebounding on both ends, Auburn jumped out on a 15-0 run with Denver Jones quickly nailing multiple threes, Miles Kelly connecting from deep, and Johni Broome helping limit the Vandy offense to one chance with his efforts on the defensive glass and helping turn those stops into points with his physicality in the post on the other end.

That early run had this game quickly at the tipping point of potentially getting out of hand in Auburn's favor, but the Commodores were able to respond. MJ Collins helped get things going with two nice jumpers to make it 19-8, with Jaylen Carey entering the game and providing a spark for Vandy, going 3 for 3 from the field and ripping down six first-half rebounds throughout what was a horrifically bad three-point shooting night for Mark Byington's team. Vandy made only one three in the half courtesy of Tyler Nickel but still found themselves down just two at the break.

Vandy continued to scrap in the early minutes of the second half; a three by Jason Edwards gave the Commodores their first lead of the night at the 17-minute mark, but a four-plus minute scoring drought allowed Auburn to take firm control of the lead as they regained it for good with just over 13 minutes to play.

Needless to say, Vandy's three-point shooting didn't improve in the second half as they finished the game just 3-of-17 from deep, a recipe for disaster against a defense as good as Auburn's. Edwards finished the game with a team-high 13 points, while Devin McGlockton and veteran AJ Hoggard each chipped in 10 points of their own. The Commodores ended up with six players contributing eight or more points, but eight minutes worth of scoring droughts ultimately eliminated any chance of yet another court storm in Nashville.

The best teams in the country find ways to score in multiple ways and from multiple players, and Tuesday was the latest example of why Auburn is built to make a deep run come March. Bruce Pearl got huge lifts from Jones with his 21 points, as well as Chaney Johnson off the bench with 20 points and five rebounds on a near-perfect 9 of 10 shooting from the field. Both helped make up for the off nights from Miles Kelly and Chad Baker-Mazara, who combined to finish with only three points and shot a combined 1 of 11 from the floor. As expected at this point, Broome had 17 points, seven rebounds, and three blocks and was a steadying force, but it was the shooting efficiency from Jones and Johnson that ignited this team throughout the night.

But that's what great teams do, no matter what, someone finds a way to pace the offense while continuing to lock things down defensively. The Tigers have plenty of options to supplement their offensive production heading into the home stretch of their SEC schedule, which includes five games against teams currently ranked in the top-20 nationally.

Vanderbilt will try to pick themselves up off the mat against fifth-ranked Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday, while Auburn gets set for what could be the game of the year in college basketball as they head to Tuscaloosa for a top-2 showdown with the Crimson Tide.