Broome has 19 points, 18 boards, No. 25 Auburn beats Georgia

AUBURN, Ala. -- — Johni Broome scored 19 points and matched a career high with 18 rebounds, Allen Flanigan scored a season-high 22 points, and No. 25 Auburn defeated Georgia 94-73 on Wednesday night.

Wendell Green Jr. added 18 points and six assists and made two 3-pointers during a 17-0 first-half run for the Tigers (17-5, 7-2 Southeastern Conference).

Broome secured his seventh double-double of the season with 2:54 remaining in the first half, then added six points and six rebounds in the second half.

Flanigan went 8 for 10 from the field to finish with his best scoring performance since February 2021.

“I actually texted (Flanigan) last night and told him I felt like he was gonna have a big one tonight,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “I said, ‘You’re gonna have a bunch of points. You’re gonna have a bunch of rebounds. You’re gonna play great defense, and you’re not gonna turn the ball over.’ ... And I love it when I’m right.”

After a 12-point win over Auburn last month, Georgia (14-8, 4-5) was attempting to complete its first regular-season sweep of the Tigers since 2017.

Mardrez McBride led the Bulldogs with 20 points. Georgia hit 10 3-pointers after halftime but never trailed by fewer than 15 points in the second half.

Auburn scored 48 points in the paint, which Georgia coach Mike White was quick to point out.

“You’ve got no chance to have success on the road in this league with that,” White said. “A lack of physicality and physical toughness, defensive rebounding, loose balls in the paint ... all of those areas, we really struggled tonight.”

BIG PICTURE

Georgia: The Bulldogs are led by their starting backcourt, and White’s team didn’t have much of an answer for the 6-foot-10 Broome. After combining for 43 points in their first game against Auburn this season, Terry Roberts and Kario Oquendo got off to slow starts and were unable to recreate the same offensive success away from home.

“We’ve got to find some answers on the interior,” White said. “We’ve got to figure out what we’re doing here moving forward.”

Auburn: The Tigers were coming off an 0-2 week that included their first home loss in almost two full years. But they were able to bounce back against the Bulldogs by leaning on their defense and rebounding early, with the dominant play of Broome opening things up for his teammates on the perimeter.

“We had to be the more physical team,” Broome said. “The last time we played them, they beat us on the offensive glass. We took that personally.”

STREAK ENDS

Roberts scored 26 points against Auburn last month but was held to seven points in the rematch, ending a streak of 14 straight games scoring in double figures.

Pearl said the Tigers’ defensive game plan was to get the ball out of the hands of Roberts and Oquendo.

“We impacted the ball screens more, stayed on them longer, made them give it up and made the other guys beat us,” Pearl said.

A SIZZLING SEASON HIGH

The Tigers eclipsed their previous season high for points in a game — 93 against Colgate on Dec. 2. Auburn shot 56.3% from the field and only committed five turnovers.

“We knew we couldn’t come out and play around with Georgia,” Broome said.

UP NEXT

Georgia: Visits Texas A&M on Saturday night.

Auburn: Visits No. 2 Tennessee on Saturday.

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