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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tigers light up the scoreboard\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although it was against KenPom\u2019s 348th-ranked defense in the nation, Auburn brought the energy to the building from the jump.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Auburn\u2019s 15 threes gave it a +39 advantage in points scored from beyond the arc.\u00a0<\/p>\n
KO fuels the Tigers, Freeman delivers the knockout\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Auburn\u2019s electric forward, Elyjah Freeman, came alive in the second half with 20 points to lead the Tigers\u2019 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ferocious defense\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Royals, ranking inside the top-80 in KenPom\u2019s offensive efficiency ratings, were no match for the Tigers\u2019 defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 also its lowest of the season, as it came into this one ranked 26th in the nation with 10.8 triples per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pettiford\u2019s shooting woes in Neville continue\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite being one of Auburn\u2019s most electric scorers \u2013 the second-highest with 15.2 points per game entering this one \u2013 Tahaad Pettiford continued to struggle shooting the basketball in his home arena on Monday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite that, his playmaking skills were on full display as he tallied a career-high nine assists to fuel Auburn\u2019s 22-assist performance, which was the second-most it has recorded all season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Auburn will begin SEC play on Saturday against Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum at 12 p.m. on SECN. <\/p>\n
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