Miles Kelly hit seven 3-pointers for all 21 of his points on Wednesday as No. 11 Auburn throttled visiting Vermont 94-43 in the Tigers’ season opener in Auburn, Ala.
Kelly, a Georgia Tech transfer, missed just two of his 3-point attempts and led a cast of five scorers who finished in double figures for Auburn (1-0). Denver Jones added 16 points, Chaney Johnson had 13, Johni Broome dropped 12 and Chad Baker-Mazara tallied 11. Johnson grabbed nine rebounds and Broome had seven.
The Tigers hit 16 3-pointers compared to the Catamounts’ five. Overall, Auburn outshot the visitors 56.3 percent (36-for-64) to 25.9 percent (15-for-58) and held a 25-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
Vermont (1-1) opened its season on Monday with a 67-62 win at UAB. The Catamounts reached the NCAA Tournament a year ago but never got untracked against Auburn and trailed 46-21 at halftime.
The Tigers played even better after the break, scoring the first 16 points of the second half to open up a 62-21 advantage. It took over six minutes for Vermont to connect on a field goal try, which came on TJ Long’s 3-pointer at the 13:56 mark.
Auburn promptly answered that basket with another 16-0 run to drive its lead to 81-25 with 10:23 to go. The Tigers hit three triples during their first 16-point run and hit four more during the second.
Long finished with three points, while Seth Joba led the Catamounts with eight.
The teams traded baskets throughout the game’s first seven minutes as Auburn crawled ahead 10-7. The Tigers then took control with an 18-3 run over the next four minutes to take control. That run included a pair of treys each from Kelly and JP Pegues.
Auburn extended its lead to 27 just before halftime at 46-19 after a jumper from Johnson.
The Tigers will next face No. 4 Houston on Saturday at the Toyota Center in Houston. Vermont visits Merrimack on Saturday.