Wiley goes off in Auburn's Texas-sized win
Size may be overrated, but passing isn't.
Auburn took command of a tightly contested game at TCU Saturday night with a series of shrewd and deft passes in transition, many of them ending in the safe hands of center Austin Wiley. The freshman finished with a career-high 15 points — 21 of them coming after halftime — and Auburn earned an impressive, 88-80 win.
The stakes were big for Bruce Pearl and his team; TCU entered the game with a No. 37 rank in the NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index.
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Auburn (14-7) trailed by one point early in the second half, but a protracted run turned the game around. Keyed primarily by guard T.J. Dunans' high-flying passing and movement in transition, the Tigers' built a 25-2 run that all but sealed the game with 5 minutes remaining.
Rebounding and post play were recurring themes. Though TCU entered with a reputation for strong rebounding, Auburn had little trouble gathering errant shots. The Tigers grabbed 38 rebounds to TCU's 36, which helped limit TCU's second-chance opportunities and yielded second-chance opportunites for both Wiley and fellow center Anfernee McLemore.
Together, the two freshmen were 17-of-19 from the floor with 12 rebounds. Auburn scored 56 points in the paint.
"We prepared well for this team and we kept working," Wiley said.
Dunans' role in all those inside baskets can't be overstated. The senior continued his emergence as a transitional expert, finding gaps in TCU's fast-break defense and using that space to maximum advantage. He finished with only four points, but Dunans nonetheless added seven assists and seven rebounds.
