Samford uses the offense Carril developed, a disciplined, spread-the-floor approach based on back-door cuts and open 3-pointers, and the Bulldogs executed it to perfection in Friday night’s 79-68 victory over Auburn at Auburn Arena.
“We did some good things,” said Samford coach Jimmy Tillette. “It all looks good when the ball goes through the basket.”
It went through big-time for the Bulldogs (2-1) who shot 26 of 45 from the field (57.8 percent) including 18 of 33 (54.5 percent) from 3-point range.
The 18 3-pointers set a record for most made in a game at Auburn.
“Our attention to detail, especially when you play a team that runs the Princeton style offense, the discipline and the communication you have to have on the defensive end wasn’t there tonight,” said Auburn coach Tony Barbee. “We had a lot of breakdowns. But give Samford credit, they did a great job of executing their offense.”
Auburn (0-2) never led and trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half.
Samford’s Josh Davis scored a career-high tying 30 points.
“Our guys competed,” Tillette said. “That was our constant theme all week. We improved from where we were last week.”
Auburn got a career-high 28 points from guard Andre Malone, but didn’t have another player in double figures.
“Andre played great tonight and I’m glad he found his confidence,” Barbee said. “He spends a lot of time working on his game on his own. As offensively challenged as we’re going to be, he can make some shots for us. Our defense has got to be better.
Malone made 9 of 21 shots from the field including 6 of 10 from 3-point range.
“It was pretty tough,” Malone said of the loss. “We had a week to go over it. We’ve got to talk more. Their offense is great. They’ve got great shooters. I think we were worried more about the back door than the 3-ball and that probably killed us.”
It will never be known if Davis couldn’t miss in the first half, but what is known is that he didn’t.
Davis made all seven of his shots, all from 3-point range, and Samford led 38-32 at halftime.
“Usually when someone is hot you make a couple in a row and it stops,” Davis said. “It felt good to make that many in a row.”
Samford was 10-for-18 from 3-point range in the first half.
The Bulldogs started out hot, making five of their first seven shots, all from 3-point range, but never led by more than six points.
Led by Malone, who had 18 of his career-high 28 points in the first half, the Tigers kept it close.
“We’ve got to play better defensively,” Barbee said. “You can’t let a team shoot almost 60 percent from the field and expect to win.”
Auburn will play Campbell at 4:30 p.m. today in the second round of the Global Sports Hoops Showcase.
Samford meets Middle Tennessee at 2 p.m. today.
The Tigers will close out the Global Sports Hoops Showcase at 5 p.m. Sunday against Middle Tennessee State.
Campbell will play Samford at 2 p.m. Sunday.
