Auburn basketball handles North Carolina, punches ticket to Maui title game: Takeaways

Auburn basketball is just six games into the season and playing for a championship.

After an exciting victory in the last seconds against no. 5 Iowa State on Monday night in Hawaii, the Tigers got another win late Tuesday, beating No. 10 North Carolina 85-72 in the 2024 Maui Invitational.

That puts Bruce Pearl and the Tigers in the Maui Invitational championship game with a matchup against Memphis at 4pm CST Wednesday.

Unlike Monday’s win, the Tigers won in convincing fashion, leading the Tar Heels for the entire 40 minutes. It extended their record to 6-0 and it gave them a third win against a ranked opponent in a young season.

Here are three takeaways from another Auburn victory.

Auburn basketball’s Johni Broome picks up where he left off

Broome’s 21-point, 10-rebound double-double with a game-winning shot in a career-high 36 minutes was seemingly small potatoes for the All-American.

He picked up where he left off in Monday’s win over fifth-ranked Iowa State, with 23 points and a career-high 19 rebounds to notch his 64th career double-double. He also added five assists and three blocks.

The Tigers were plus-17 with Broome on the floor.

A second-half surge is void for Auburn basketball’s stars

A big game for All-American Broome was the result of a hot start. He recorded his first-half double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds heading into halftime.

He was quiet to start the second half, however, he didn’t score his first points of the period until the 5:47 mark of the period.

But the Tigers kept the Tar Heels at arm’s length without him, thanks in large part to Chaney Johnson and Miles Kelly.

Johnson himself flirted with a double-double with 11 points and seven rebounds. And Kelly was the Tigers’ second-leading scorer with 15 points.

Twelve of Kelly’s 15 points came in the second half, and Johnson also had nine of his points and seven of his rebounds in that period.

Tigers show that hustle makes a difference

Auburn got a handful of things broken, including an uncharacteristically poor free-throw shooting performance by North Carolina.

But the Tigers were as scrappy as ever. They forced 10 turnovers and scored 15 points from them. They also grabbed 11 offensive rebounds, leading to 12 second-chance points.

Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be contacted via e-mail at [email protected] or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.

This article originally appeared on the Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball handles UNC, punches ticket to Maui title game