'What a treat' - Tiger Trio from LSU win: Red-hot Heron, 'Our Charles Barkley,' No place like home

'What a treat' - Tiger Trio from LSU win: Red-hot Heron, 'Our Charles Barkley,' No place like home'What a treat' - Tiger Trio from LSU win: Red-hot Heron, 'Our Charles Barkley,' No place like home

Jan. 28, 2018

By Jeff Shearer
AuburnTigers.com

AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn nears the midpoint of SEC play atop the conference standings after Saturday's 95-70 home win over LSU.

At 7-1, the Tigers lead Florida (6-2) by a game and Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama (each 5-3) by two.

"We're one game in front, but we're probably two games from fifth or sixth place," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "Every night, you have to bring it. We have a lot of games left, and we can either win them all or lose them all."

Many fans joined Auburn's coaches by wearing AUTLIVE t-shirts during the LSU game, with proceeds supporting local cancer patients.

"It was a great environment tonight," Pearl said. "The crowd was tremendous. The support for AUTLIVE was just incredible. We've got the brand out now of outliving cancer. I think it's got a chance to hold on here. I can hardly wait to help them out some more because of the generosity of the community."

Here are three takeaways from Auburn's 19th win, one more victory than the Tigers earned last season, when they finished 18-14.

Red-hot Heron

Scoring 16 points in the opening five minutes, Mustapha Heron helped Auburn quickly build a double-digit lead it never lost.

"What a treat," Pearl said. "How do you not sit back at Mustapha Heron and go, `Wow?'"

Hitting his first six shots, Heron made four 3-pointers, a layup and a tip-in to give Auburn a 19-6 lead with 15:17 left in the first half, part of an 18-0 run.

"It feels good to start the game off like that," said Heron, who led Auburn with 21 points and nine rebounds. "Control the tempo early. I think that really helped us."

Auburn sank its first five 3-pointers, making 11 3's in the first half on 21 attempts (47.8 percent), with six Tigers joining the long-distance shootout. In addition to Heron's four, Bryce Brown made three while Jared Harper, Anfernee McLemore, Malik Dunbar and Chuma Okeke each hit one.

Auburn added three 3s in the second half, shooting 14-for-32 (43.8 percent) for the game. Brown was 5 of 11 from 3-point range, accounting for his 15 points.

'He's our Charles Barkley'

With Horace Spencer and McLemore on the bench in the second half with four fouls, Desean Murray and Okeke effectively defended LSU's significantly larger frontcourt.

"Really, there is no drop off," Murray said. "Anywhere on the team, there's no drop off. If I'm in foul trouble, Chuma is coming in. I feel like we just have depth."

At 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, Murray more than held his own. His eight rebounds exceeded the combined total (six) of LSU's 6-11 Duop Reath and 6-10 Aaron Epps.

"Just playing hard and trying to get a win," said Murray, who grabbed six offensive rebounds. "Trying to do anything I can to help my team win."

Murray scored 18 points on 7 of 9 shooting with many of his baskets coming on tip-ins after a teammate's miss.

"It seems like every time we needed a bucket, he would fly in and get up there above the rim and knock one in for us," Pearl said.

"It means everything," Heron said. "I've said before that he's our Charles Barkley. He does the things that nobody else wants to do."

No place like home

Heron's first 3-pointer engaged the sellout crowd in the opening minute. Dunbar's alley-oop slam from Harper, after Murray's steal, provided the exclamation point, along with a 75-50 lead.

"That's huge," Heron said of Auburn's third straight sellout. "The crowd is almost like a sixth man. That's how we look at it. When they're into it, we're into it. It makes for games like these."

Auburn will enter February unbeaten at home, the only SEC team with that distinction. The Tigers will try to improve to 12-0 at Auburn Arena when Vanderbilt visits Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

"It means a lot," Heron said. "We definitely mark every home game on our calendar before the season like we're going to get all of them."

With 10 SEC games remaining, beginning Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT at Ole Miss, Pearl addressed Auburn's motivation and front-runner status.

"We just keep putting challenges out there," he said. "We continue to stay humble and hungry. We weren't in the Big 12/SEC Challenge tonight. Ten other teams were. We didn't earn our way in. We finished 11th last year, and we had to battle to finish at 11 last year. If we're going to change perception, we have to go out there and do it on the floor."

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @jeff_shearer