Auburn was looking to avoid a letdown Wednesday night, facing Kent State at home after a thrilling win over No.4 Houston on Saturday.
There were no signs of a letdown or hangover against Kent State, and despite some cold shooting at times, Auburn earned a 79-56 win.
Here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s game:
Howard and Hudson still out
Jahki Howard and Ja’Heim Hudson both missed their second straight game Wednesday night after not traveling with the team to Houston.
The two didn’t make the trip for the Houston game due to a reported in-flight altercation that forced the team’s flight to be diverted back to the airport.
Both players practiced with the team leading up to Wednesday’s game, but were not available to play. Howard and Hudson were present, but sat on the bench wearing the team’s warmup shirt and sweatpants.
“It was obviously an unfortunate situation. We’re dealing with it head on,” Pearl said during his press conference on Tuesday. “Those guys were in class and practice on Monday.”
Not a hot shooting night
Auburn’s offense was inconsistent against Kent State. It shot 2-for-13 from 3 in the first half and allowed Kent State to go on a 12-0 run at one point.
The 3-point shooting wasn’t nearly as efficient as it was against Houston and Vermont, but it didn’t matter. Auburn finished the game with 79 points and still shot 49% from the field.
Tahaad Pettiford, one of the heroes against Houston with 21 points, was kept quiet. He tacked on three fouls in the first half, limiting his minutes, but was constantly harassed when he was on the court.
He took advantage of that at times with a few nice passes for easy dunks, but was held in check for most of the game as all nine of his points came in the second half.
The standout player for Auburn was Chaney Johnson. He finished with 18 points, the most of his Auburn career. It’s also the third consecutive game he has finished in double figures.
Auburn finished the game shooting 25% from 3, but still found a way to win by 23. It was a product of the offense’s versatility and a good sign for the more athletic defenses it will face later in the season.
Fought through some adversity
After starting the game up 30-8, it seemed like Auburn was going to easily cruise to a blowout win like it did against Vermont.
Kent State went on a 25-10 run after that and cut the deficit all the way down to five points. That came while Auburn struggled to find any success from 3-point range, forcing some adjustments on offense.
Attacking the basket became a priority and that started with Johni Broome. He had 12 second half points and was arguably the most important factor of Auburn re-establishing control in the game.
Obviously, long spurts of minimal offense will hurt Auburn more against better teams, but it would also be unrealistic to expect Auburn to consistently miss as many open 3-pointers as it did against Kent State.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at prauterkus@al.com
