Auburn basketball looks like a juggernaut. Are there any flaws for opponents to exploit?
AUBURN — Auburn basketball has been on a warpath through the early part of the SEC schedule.
The Tigers have played and won five games against conference competition, bludgeoning those foes by an average of 19.2 points. The closest battle was with Texas A&M on Jan. 9, but coach Bruce Pearl's team closed the final nine minutes of that contest on an 18-7 run to secure an 11-point win − all 16 of Auburn's victories this season have been of the double-digit variety.
It's been an impressive showing for a team that was projected to finish No. 6 in the SEC, but that doesn't mean there aren't cracks being ignored due to the wins piling up. The Tigers, who sit atop the conference standings, have yet to play any of the squads placed No. 2-6.
That'll soon change with a trip to Alabama on Wednesday (6:30 p.m. CT, ESPN). With the competition ratcheting up, here's a look at some areas in which Auburn has shown inadequacies and is liable to be taken advantage of:
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At-the-rim efficiency for Auburn basketball's backcourt
The Tigers, as a team, are incredibly efficient at the rim. They hit those attempts at a 66.3% rate, which is in the 81st percentile nationally, per College Basketball Analytics. Fifth-year senior Jaylin Williams leads the way in that category, having knocked down an astounding 84.2% of his shots that've come from within four-and-a-half feet of the basket. Johni Broome is making 81% of those tries.
But not everyone is as adept. Five-star freshman Aden Holloway has excelled in some areas as Auburn's starting point guard − his assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.69 is amongst the best in the country − but he struggles inside the 3-point arc. Holloway is shooting 33.3% on 2-point shots, including a 44.4% mark at the rim. That's in the 16th percentile.
Holloway, however, has shown improvement inside as of late. He's made five of his last eight 2-point attempts.
Foul trouble
Auburn is one of the country's best defensive units − the Tigers have the No. 6 adjusted defensive efficiency out of 362 teams, per KenPom − but it also has a tendency to pile up infractions. Pearl's team averages 18.1 fouls per game, which is No. 249 nationally and No. 11 in the SEC.
Fouls often come with playing physical defense, though. Houston and Tennessee, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in adjusted defensive efficiency, average 18.4 and 17.4 whistles against them per game, respectively.
Auburn's depth makes its fouls more forgivable, as well. The Tigers have what is statically the best bench in the country, and having 11 players in the rotation allows the fouls to be spread out.
Focus in second halves
Finding holes to poke in an Auburn team that is arguably the hottest program in the country is tough.
One admittedly knit-picky item is what the Tigers have down in their last four second halves. They've outscored opponents by an average of 15.3 points in the opening 20 minutes of their four most previous games, and yet the average margin of victory in those contests sits just above that at 16. Auburn has often taken its proverbial foot off the gas after cruising to big leads early.
That trend will assumingly not be an issue when the level of competition rises and games are closer, but it's one of the few missteps that can be pointed out about a team that is running opponents of the gym.
"Can we play at the level as the competition increases?" Pearl posed Saturday evening. "As greater competition, athletes and size and physicality increase, will we continue to play at this level? We really don't have play a whole lot better. We're playing well enough."
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball is an SEC contender. There's still room to improve
