Despite not having four rotation players in the lineup, the Auburn Tigers opened their time in Greece with a 92-71 win on Saturday against KK Mega Superbet out of Serbia in Mykonos, Greece.
The Tigers were without transfers George Kimble III and Owen Freeman due to injuries and international signees Narcisse Ngoy and Mantas Rubštavičius were sat while the duo awaits their eligibility ruling from the NCAA.
That did not stop senior Kevin Overton from leading six Auburn players in double figures on the day, draining five 3-pointers on his way to 21 points for the game. Troy transfer Thomas Dowd finished just behind Overton with 13 points on three made shots from beyond the arc, while Tahaad Pettiford, Caleb Williams, Blake Muschalek and Adam Olsen each scored 12.
Superbet’s Pavle Bačko led all scorers for the game with 22 points, going 9-for-12 from the field while making all three of his 3-point shots. He was one of three that scored in double figures for the opposition, as Mihalo Bošković notched 17 while Ognjen Nikolic scored 10.
“Very physical, very competitive game,” said Auburn basketball coach Steven Pearl. “I thought for our first time out and not having four of our core guys, I thought our guys competed, played hard. They started out very physical against us and I thought our guys did a good job of handling that. A lot of things that we obviously need to clean up, but it’s August right now.”
The two teams played by FIBA rules, which had the teams competing for four 10-minute quarters.
The Tigers had the early advantage after the first at 27-19, powered by Overton putting up eight and Olsen coming off the bench to hit back-to-back shots from beyond the arc.
Despite Superbet getting its deficit to within three at 32-29 in the second, Auburn bounced back and pushed its lead to 43-30, capped off by a 3-pointer from Blake Muschalek.
The Tigers eventually went into the half up 48-34, with Dowd having made an early impact with five points, nine rebounds and three assists.
“TD just brings a different level of energy to the floor; like the second he gets in there, he’s just immediately impactful,” Pearl said. “ He comes here to play the 3 and he’s currently having to play 5 and 4 with our limited numbers. He had four offensive rebounds in the first half, did a great job of just impacting the game—four assists, one turnover. He’s just a bit of a Swiss Army Knife.”
Auburn’s performance was highlighted by a 32-point third quarter that saw it hit three-consectuive triples to begin the period. The Tigers were in full control as a result, holding a firm lead at 80-56.
Auburn soon got up by as many as 28 in the fourth quarter, and Pearl sat his starters for about the final eight minutes of action.
The Tigers put up 22 assists on 33 made field goals for the game, shooting 47.83 percent from the field. They also had 15 turnovers, with Williams having the most of any Auburn player at three.
Dowd was the only player on the court who put up a double-double, putting up 10 rebounds alongside his 13 points, four assists and a steal. Santa Clara transfer Bukky Oboye also impressed inside with five blocks.
“Bukky, I thought he started off really slow, didn’t get his motor going,” Pearl said. “But in the second half, I thought he played better, had five blocks, a couple of ridiculous plays in transition. He can do some things that not a lot of people can do, but it only works if he plays hard.”
After getting to sit the starters for the better part of the fourth quarter, Pearl said that was a welcome sight.
However, the team still things it needs to work on.
“Not having to play Tahaad, KO and TD more than 27 minutes was kind of the key for tonight,” Pearl said. “We were able to play a lot of our bench and we got exposed in some areas and I thought we did some good things.”
The Tigers will take on Superbet once again on Sunday at the same time in Mykonos. According to Pearl though, it will be a different look for Auburn as the starters won’t see as much of the floor.
“We’re going to play our walk-ons a little bit just to kind of conserve some energy and give our guys some extra opportunities,” Pearl said. “It will be a great opportunity for some of our guys that aren’t really going to play during the season to get some quality minutes against a really good team and it’ll be a great opportunity for some of those other guys to just play a more elevated role tomorrow.”
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
