Steven Pearl rebuilt his roster with one thing in mind this offseason — depth.
Auburn lacked the depth it needed last season, but found substantial success in bench production in its 92-59 win Wednesday night over Southeastern Louisiana. The Tigers scored 36 points off the bench, as the team cruised to a dominant win to open the year.
"I thought our bench did a really good job tonight of coming in and giving us really quality minutes. That's the bright spot of the game tonight. Bukky (Oboye), Owen (Freeman), George (Kimble III), Adam (Olsen) and Kolby (King) really came in and gave us really positive minutes.”
King led the way off the bench, totaling 12 points and grabbing seven rebounds in 15 minutes of action. Coming off the bench is where King is most comfortable, sparking the team with high effort plays across the court, and it was evident Wednesday.
“My energy off the bench, I feel like I've done that throughout my whole career,” King said. “Just bring life and energy to the team when they need it the most. I feel like that's the type of impact I can have for Auburn basketball. Shoutout to the coaching staff for putting me out there.”
Behind King, George Kimble III also scored in double figures, dropping 10 points in 16 minutes, but his defense is what impressed Pearl.
“I thought George and Kolby's activity on the defensive end was really disruptive and allowed us to really get out,” Pearl said. “Those guys had four steals in the second half and did a lot of good things.”
Oboye, the transfer from Santa Clara, shined on defense. Out of the Tigers’ 11 blocks, which is more than Auburn had in a game last season, Oboye had five of them.
“It's a huge factor,” Pearl said. “If you look through our first three exhibitions, the team shot 39%. Tonight, they shot 29%. Defensively, we're making strides. We're making multiple efforts.”
Auburn’s two returning starters — Tahaad Pettiford and Kevin Overton — only played 22 and 23 minutes in the game, combining for 30 points. However, keeping Pettiford and Overton well rested and balancing their workload throughout the season is crucial for the team's long-run success.
“That's why you have to have depth, is to be able to not have a drop off when guys like Tahaad and KO don't have their best stuff,” Pearl said. “It allows them to be more fresh and more furious as the season goes on. Only having to play 22 minutes tonight for both those guys is really important. I think it's going to obviously pay dividends as the season goes on. We've got to trust our bench and let those guys go out there and do the things we know they're capable of doing.”
Meanwhile, Owen Freeman made his Auburn debut after not appearing in any of the exhibition games. He played just 11 minutes, but still scored seven points and recorded six rebounds. Needless to say, Freeman was just happy to be back playing basketball after injuries have kept him off the court throughout his career.
“I was just really grateful, grateful for everybody in my circle,” Freeman said. “Really just grateful to God for the opportunity. Not a lot of people can have the year I had last year and be able to move up to the best conference in the country. I credit all that to God. I was just really emotional. For it to finally happen and to finally be out there, I can’t put it into words. It’s just super-exciting.”
Even after a somewhat sluggish start, Auburn overpowered Southeastern Louisiana with consistent production from its bench. The bench scored 17 points in the first half and 19 points in the second half.
“I thought it was the difference in the game, our bench coming in and having a positive impact on the game,” Pearl said. “That's the reason why we built the roster out the way we did. To be able to go to our bench and not fall off — which has kind of been a recipe for success here for a while, and we didn't have that last year.”
Auburn returns to Neville Arena Monday night, Nov. 10, to host Appalachian State at 8 p.m. CST.
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