Takeaways from Auburn basketball’s 67-65 loss at Vanderbilt

The Auburn Tigers took on the Vanderbilt Commodores Saturday night in front of a big Auburn crowd. Tiger fans traveled well but the Tiger’s jump shots did not as Auburn struggled offensively. The game could have gone either way. Auburn struggled to get calls again tonight, but played well defensively. With this loss, the Tigers may need to win a few down the stretch to make the tournament. Here are a few takeaways from todays game.

Jaylin Williams was Hot

Williams does this. He has these games this year where aggressive Jay comes out to shine and just can’t miss. Williams has been extremely impressive when he does this and is also miraculously efficient. He started off tonight 8-11 for 17 points. Coach Bruce Pearl discussed building the offense around Williams this offseason. Nights like tonight reveal the potential Pearl saw for him to takeover and have an impact.

Auburn is not good at 3 point shooting

The Tigers shot around 25% from three point land tonight. This is below where Auburn needs it to be to be a great basketball team. All Tigers struggled tonight offensively outside of Jaylin Williams, Johni Broome, and Lior Berman. Wendell Green had an especially difficult night going 1-12 from the field. Fortunately, Auburn is a great defensive team, but they’ve got to be better on the other end.

Auburn fans are traveling

It may have been a home game for Vandy on a holiday weekend, but Auburn fans nearly equalled them in number. There were thousands of fans at Tiger Walk outside the team hotel prior to the game. This may have been Auburn’s most appealing destination game this year when you factor in convenience. Nevertheless, the Auburn crowd was impressive and speaks to the passion of the fanbase for this program.

Vanderbilt’s Arena is Odd

No one knows what to make of Vanderbilt’s basketball arena. It was built almost 80 years ago, and some say times were different back then which caused the odd design. Others say the engineers built it wrong, but realized it too late to fix. The explanations for the raised floor don’t seem to make sense. Everyone is confused as to why they insist on putting player benches on the baselines. There are many reasons for the disfunction that is Memorial Gymnasium. Perhaps Vanderbilt and their decision makers are just stubborn and odd. Whatever the reason’s, it is always interesting when playing at Vanderbilt.

Finally, here are some twitter reactions and highlights from tonight’s game