Auburn basketball has depth and balance. It makes the Tigers dangerous.
It isn’t often that a box score can tell the whole story. But the raw statistics making up Auburn’s 87-62 win over UNC Asheville on Wednesday are an exception.
What the box score showed so clearly is credence to why Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl and his players have spent so much time in press conferences expressing that this team is deep, that it will use a 10-man rotation and it doesn’t need anyone to be a superstar every night.
What the box score showed is every single one of Auburn’s 11 main rotational players converted at least two baskets in the win. Auburn’s leading scorer — point guard Tre Donaldson — had 15 points. Its lowest scorer — guard Lior Berman who only played nine minutes — had five.
The balance in scoring led to Auburn accumulating 51 bench points. Auburn was already the best team in the SEC and eighth nationally in bench points per game before Wednesday.
Only three of those 11 took more than six shots in the game. The scoring was balanced. The opportunities were balanced.
“I feel like that’s gonna be our greatest weapon this year,” guard Denver Jones said. “That’s because not many people can go nine and 10 deep into their bench. But we’re fortunate to be in this position to be able to do that.”
The balance continued with production in other statistical categories. Ten Auburn players had a rebound. Six of them at three or more rebounds. Eight Tigers had an assist. Six of them had two more assists.
Other than Berman, all of Auburn’s main rotational players had double-digit minutes in the win.
Auburn, now 7-2 this season, is deep. Auburn is balanced.
Pearl’s potential problem is how to, well, balance out his balance.
“I think this team has a chance, because it’s 10 or 11 guys, to have that kind of balance,” Pearl said after the game. “So, what are the challenges? The challenge is that Jaylin Williams is not going to have 24 and whatever he had every night. He’s not going to have the opportunity to be Player of the Week every week. Neither will Johni Broome. Neither will Aden Holloway. Neither will any of our guys. The question in that locker room is: Are they OK with it? How do they feel about it? Every player is going to want a double-double, but the way we have a chance to be the best team we can is to be able to share it like we’ve been sharing it. I think when you have 19 assists and seven turnovers on the heels of 25 and three, that’s indicating we’re sharing it. Obviously, it’ll put us in a situation where if we have an injury or we have some foul trouble, we’re going to be able to withstand that. It’s a long season.”
The UNC Asheville win isn’t the first time Pearl has faced this question, nor the first time Auburn has proven its balance. Seven Auburn players are averaging more than seven points per game this season.
In fact, a stat sheet like Auburn produced Wednesday is only slightly better than the team’s season average thus far.
Each of Auburn’s top 10 rotational members averages more than two points per game. Eight of them are averaging making multiple shots per game.
That depth shows itself when Auburn can have two straight games of limited production from its leading scorer, Johni Broome. It shows itself when five different Auburn players have been the team’s individual leading scorer in a given game over the first nine games of the season: Broome, Donaldson, Aden Holloway, Chaney Johnson and Jaylin Williams.
Auburn has had no trouble sharing the ball this year, entering the night already ranked in the top 10 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio and 11th in assists per game. It added another 19 assists against seven turnovers in the win against UNC Asheville.
It’s a team that, at least outwardly, doesn’t appear bothered that it doesn’t have a dominant star. Each player is a cog in the overall system.
That is manifested in the relationship between Holloway and Donaldson.
Holloway’s shooting gives him the star power. He can quickly put up big days like the 24 points he had against Indiana. But as Holloway has shown dating back to the November win against Virginia Tech, if his deep shot isn’t there, he can struggle. Holloway made only three of 11 field goal attempts and one of five 3-pointers for a total of seven points.
And when Holloway hasn’t put up big numbers, Donaldson has almost always stepped up. On Wednesday, he was Auburn’s leading scorer.
The duo has only played together once this season against Virginia Tech — which was due to what Pearl described as an in-house issue — but didn’t have to work together well after a position battle leading up to the season. It resulted in Donaldson winning the job right away, but Holloway took it back from him.
But the two continue to play off each other well. Donaldson believes the combo is just another piece in Auburn’s deep roster.
“I feel like, and a lot of people feel like, that we’re the best guard duo in the country, at the one,” Donaldson said. “That’s going to be tested some days. Just looking forward to that game. I feel like when me and Aden are out there, it’s hard to beat us. We bring so much and we’re so much alike. Being able to knock down shots, feed our teammates and get us going and stuff like that. It’s really hard to guard when you’ve got two point guards coming at you all night. There’s no drop off.”
Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]