New Year. New record.

Auburn men’s basketball now sits at 12-1 after securing its 60 straight home non-conference victory Monday night against Monmouth.

In what too seemed to be a Christmas hangover at the start of the Tigers final non-conference matchup, Auburn regrouped and reminded fans of their dominant pedigree closing out 2024 with an 87-58 victory.

Monmouth opened the game drilling its first three 3-pointers due to Auburn defensive breakdowns. The Hawks finished the first half shooting 50% from beyond the arc.

Auburn’s Denver Jones matched the Hawks with nine early points of his on from deep lighting a spark that never went out for the Tigers.

“So, wrapping up a nonconference schedule. It was the toughest nonconference schedule in the history of Auburn basketball, and we lost one game at Duke; a close game,” Pearl said. “So, I’m very, very proud of our kids. A lot of the games we played were on neutral sites and away from home, so we demonstrated that we can win away from Neville (Arena). Now, we get ready to start the toughest conference schedule in the history of college basketball.”

The Tigers connected on five of thier next seven shots extending its lead to 28-24 and forcing a Monmouth timeout.

After the break, Chaney Johnson’s 10 points extended Auburn’s lead to 38-28 as the momentum begin to shift the Tigers direction. Auburn finished the half scoring 18 unanswered points.

“I was glad he took over the second rotation, but not happy with his first he knows I wasn’t happy with his first rotation. Why not take over his first rotation? Pearl said. “So, he did great. Yeah, he came in, he played great. And I complimented him at halftime for really not having a very good first rotation and then coming back and playing great.

“Part of it is taking all this time off and, you know, and things along those lines. Athletically, physically, I have high expectations, obviously, for Chaney. So when Chaney plays well, I’m not impressed, because that’s what I expect him to do.”

Auburn held Monmouth to just 30 second half points as the hawks hit only ten shots from the floor. The Tigers outrebounded Monmouth 46-27 and scored 20 points off of 11 Hawks turnovers.

Four Tigers finished in double figures headlined by double-doubles from the frontcourt duo of Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell.

Auburn will kick off conference play with Missouri on Saturday, Jan. 4 inside Neville Arena.