National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome receives most of the attention for top-ranked Auburn’s stellar season, but other players have stepped up to deliver key performances.
It was senior guard Miles Kelly who excelled in that role in the Tigers’ last contest and he will look to deliver another strong outing when Auburn faces No. 22 Texas A&M on Tuesday night in Southeastern Conference play at College Station, Texas.
The Tigers (27-2, 15-1 SEC) have nothing to play for Tuesday after clinching the outright regular-season title on Saturday — and nobody’s questioning their credentials as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Texas A&M (20-9, 9-7) figures to be quite hungry after losing four consecutive games.
Auburn is coming off a stellar 94-78 victory over then-No. 17 Kentucky, its first victory in Lexington in 37 years and just its third in 54 overall visits.
Kelly was hotter than lava as he made a career-best nine 3-pointers and scored a season-high 30 points. He personally ended the Tigers’ 20-game losing streak on Kentucky’s floor.
“At shootaround, I fell in love with the rims,” Kelly said. “Everything I was putting up at shootaround was going in. I knew I would get some looks early and I knocked them down. My teammates did a great job of finding me.”
The big performance lifted Kelly’s scoring average to 11.5, third on the squad behind Broome (18.4) and Chad Baker-Mazara (13.0). He has knocked down a team-best 69 treys and is making 41.1 percent of his shots from behind the arc.
Kelly spent three seasons at Georgia Tech before transferring to Auburn after last season.
He established career highs in scoring (14.4 points per game) and 3-pointers (89) as a sophomore with the Yellow Jackets. But as a junior, his overall shooting fell to 36.9 percent and his proficiency from 3-point range was just 32.1 percent.
Baker-Mazara matched his season high of 22 points against Kentucky and reserve Tahaad Pettiford scored 21 points on a day in which Broome had just nine points.
Texas A&M was sailing along with five straight victories before the current four-game slide that includes Saturday’s 89-70 loss at then-No. 3 Florida.
The Aggies had just three assists on 23 baskets and shot 39 percent from the floor against the Gators. Florida outscored Texas A&M 42-15 from the 3-point line, which could be a good sign for Kelly.
“(The Gators) are very proficient in how they play, very efficient in how they play,” Aggies coach Buzz Williams said. “I think how we play defensively somewhat encourages threes. And so teams that have as many shooters as they have and are as comfortable with the ball, it will probably lead to high assists and high threes.”
Zhuric Phelps scored 16 points to lead the Aggies and Pharrel Payne added 14.
Wade Taylor IV was just 1 of 7 from 3-point range while scoring 11 points. Taylor leads Texas A&M in scoring (15.1) and 3-pointers (61), but he’s shooting just 32.4 percent behind the arc.
“I do think regardless of the opponent, he commands attention,” Williams said of Taylor. “Some of it is because of his ability to score. Some of it is because in many respects, he makes good decisions that help our team.”
Texas A&M also has lost to then-No. 21 Mississippi State and then-No. 6 Tennessee during its skid, but the one that hurt most was falling 86-84 at home to Vanderbilt.
The Aggies are tied for sixth with Ole Miss in the SEC race and badly need a big effort on Tuesday. Their regular-season finale is Saturday at LSU.
Auburn won last season’s lone meeting, dispatching visiting Texas A&M 66-55.
–Field Level Media
