Jabari Smith, Auburn basketball give Kevin Durant a show in 99-68 rout of Nebraska
Both halves started the same way — with the NBA-bound stroke of the 18-year-old whom everyone, including Kevin Durant, came to watch — and both ended with more irrefutable dominance from Auburn basketball, a team already showing flashes of its best basketball in December without one of its best players.
Freshman Jabari Smith scored 21 points in his Atlanta homecoming, Wendell Green Jr. led a bench surge with 19 points, and Auburn steamrolled Nebraska 99-68 on Saturday at State Farm Arena. It was the Tigers' first game since the NCAA Committee on Infractions finalized a four-year investigation Friday by sparing the program from a 2021-22 postseason ban but issuing four years of probation. Head coach Bruce Pearl was suspended and not with the team Saturday.
"I think it was just a sigh of relief, man, that we finally had a decision," acting head coach Wes Flanigan said after the game. "We had to deal with the consequences, and part of the consequences is going to war today without our leader. ... But this has been a resilient program."
Auburn (8-1) has won five straight games, the last four of which have been decided by an average margin of 22.8 points. The difference this time, that made a 31-point win feel even more impressive? They were taking it to a Big Ten team from the opening minutes, showing off superior talent and depth.
Jabari Smith flexes pro skills for KD
It's fitting that Smith's first college return to his hometown was in an NBA arena, the home of the Atlanta Hawks; one year from now, the 6-foot-10 forward will be making a lot of money playing in such venues.
Smith's audience Saturday included Durant, one of the sport's greatest. Auburn's highest-ranked recruit in history delivered with a tone-setting 3-pointer to start the game, and he cruised to 12 points by halftime. As the Tigers started to settle for unwise jumpers in the first few minutes, Smith hit the reset button by driving to the rim and drawing a foul — a reminder of the team's ability to control the interior. Auburn outscored Nebraska 48-26 in the paint.
Smith put on a show with an efficient and balanced line: His 21 points came on 7-of-13 shooting, and he added five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
High-flying Tigers in transition
Auburn continued to suffocate Nebraska (3-9) with its defense. The Cornhuskers entered the game as the fifth-worst 3-point shooting team in the country, and they started Saturday 1-for-9 from outside as the game got out of hand.
When the shots didn't fall and Nebraska couldn't protect the ball, committing 20 turnovers to Auburn's eight, the Tigers turned defense into highlight-worthy magic. In one sequence, back-to-back possessions ended with alley-oops, with Walker Kessler and Wendell Green Jr. both lobbing to Devan Cambridge. On a second-half fast break, Green casually tossed an alley-oop off the backboard for Smith to flush.
"It starts with our defense," Flanigan said. "We knew (Nebraska guard Alonzo) Verge was going to be a handful on ball screens; he's been a really good player for those guys, but we did our job on him. ... One of the things we've been concentrating on as a staff and as a team is trying to get better in ball-screen defense, and I think we showed some improvement there tonight."
Verge had been Nebraska's highest scorer, but Auburn held him to 10 points and seven turnovers. The Tigers outscored Nebraska 27-4 in fast-break points, the most stark difference maker in the game. They also had 26 assists to Nebraska's 12.
"A big key to our game plan was obviously to make the extra pass," Flanigan said.
Auburn overwhelms with its depth
This was supposed to be a game defined by who wasn't there. Bruce Pearl was serving the first portion of his two-game suspension (Flanigan filled in for this game because he was already the assistant coach who was scouting Nebraska, he said afterward). Chris Moore, a quality bench small forward, didn't make the trip because he had the flu.
And Auburn is still awaiting the return of star guard Allen Flanigan (Achilles), who Pearl hopes will be back for the start of SEC play.
No matter.
Auburn's bench outscored Nebraska's 41-25; the Huskers didn't score a point off the bench until the Tigers had scored 16. It was another imposing swarm of numbers even without key characters.
"I wasn't surprised at all," Flanigan said. "(Pearl) trusts our staff. He trusts our players. ... We did an unbelievable job of sharing the basketball and playing the right way."
Green in particular had a standout game with K.D. Johnson struggling. Green was the starting point guard to begin the season but was phased into a sixth-man role in part because of turnover-prone offense. He played his most well-rounded game of the season Saturday. He had six rebounds, six assists (often flashy) and two steals, making 7 of 12 shots including 4 of 6 from 3-point range.
"Once I hit one," Green said, "I can hit three or four or five."
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Jabari Smith, Auburn basketball put on show in 99-68 rout of Nebraska
