After a 26-day break away from Neville Arena, Auburn basketball cruised to a 106-65 dismantling of Queens in its final non-conference matchup of the regular season on Monday night. 

With the win, the Tigers extended their nation-leading streak of victories over non-conference foes at home to 64 and improved to 9-4 on the season. 

Here are the biggest takeaways from the game: 

Tigers light up the scoreboard 

Although it was against KenPom’s 348th-ranked defense in the nation, Auburn brought the energy to the building from the jump. 

The Tigers were electric on the offensive end of the floor, shooting their second-highest clip from the field this season with a 56% mark. Auburn buried 15 triples, the highest of the season, and saw four Tigers notch double figures en route to its second 100-plus-point outing of the season.

Auburn’s 15 threes gave it a +39 advantage in points scored from beyond the arc. 

KO fuels the Tigers, Freeman delivers the knockout  

Kevin Overton delivered a 23-point performance on Monday night, marking his second-straight game with 20-plus points and his third in the last five outings. 

The left-handed guard buried five 3-pointers and was 8-of-12 from the field with just one turnover in 30 minutes of action, giving him a +31 in the plus/minus category on the stat sheet. 

Auburn’s electric forward, Elyjah Freeman, came alive in the second half with 20 points to lead the Tigers’ scoring efforts. Freeman tallied 27 points on the night, marking a new season high, as he made 9-of-13 from the field with a perfect 4-of-4 clip from deep. 

Ferocious defense 

The Royals, ranking inside the top-80 in KenPom’s offensive efficiency ratings, were no match for the Tigers’ defense. 

After scoring 80-plus points in its last game against an SEC foe (Arkansas), Queens was held to its season-low in scoring, tallying only two 3-pointers on the night – also its lowest of the season, as it came into this one ranked 26th in the nation with 10.8 triples per game. 

Auburn held the Royals to 38% from the field and 29% in the first half, as they owned just one double-digit scorer in Nasir Mann. The Royals coughed the ball up 14 times, which Auburn turned into 24 points on the other end of the floor. 

Pettiford’s shooting woes in Neville continue 

Despite being one of Auburn’s most electric scorers – the second-highest with 15.2 points per game entering this one – Tahaad Pettiford continued to struggle shooting the basketball in his home arena on Monday night. 

Pettiford shot just 1-of-8 from the field, with one triple and a pair of free throws, marking the second consecutive game in which he scored just five points. He has yet to eclipse the 13-point mark inside Neville Arena this season. 

Despite that, his playmaking skills were on full display as he tallied a career-high nine assists to fuel Auburn’s 22-assist performance, which was the second-most it has recorded all season. 

Auburn will begin SEC play on Saturday against Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum at 12 p.m. on SECN.

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