NCAA Basketball: Tennessee, Baylor, Illinois rise in latest top 25 power rankings
By Joey Loose
14. Auburn (20-6)
Things have gone smoothly for the most part for Auburn this season, though these Tigers have been far from perfect. Nobody’s forgotten a December loss to Appalachian State, though a few things have offset that struggle, notably a hot start to SEC play and a recent big win over rival Alabama. This past week was another mixed bag for a Tigers team we’re still trying to understand.
The Tigers welcomed an upstart South Carolina squad to town on Wednesday and promptly sent them packing, winning a 101-61 blowout. Jaylin Williams had 23 points while Johni Broome added 21 in this major victory. Unfortunately that good mojo would not survive the week as the Tigers lost 70-59 on Saturday at home to Kentucky; their first home loss of the season. Auburn got 14 point efforts from Broome and Chad Maker-Mazara but didn’t have enough to stop the Wildcats, shooting poorly in the loss.
Auburn endured a second straight week with an awesome win somewhat deflated by a poor weekend performance. All in all, the Tigers sit 9-4 in a packed SEC and have clearly showed that they can play with anybody in this league. Auburn’s offense has had some legitimate fireworks (they did just top 100 against a Top 15 team), but we’ll see how they perform at Georgia and Tennessee in the coming weeks.