Welcome back to Auburn Arena, where No. 21 Auburn looks to keep up its hot play in nonconference action as it takes on the reigning Ivy League champion Yale.
Auburn has won three in a row since its first loss of the season (a double-overtime setback to UConn in the Battle 4 Atlantis) and will look to make it four straight as it takes on Yale for the first time in program history. The Tigers (6-1) and Bulldogs (5-4) are set to tip off at 1 p.m., with the game airing on ESPNU.
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AL.com will provide live updates from Saturday afternoon’s action in the space below, so be sure to refresh the page for all the latest insights and analysis, and stay tuned to AL.com/auburnbasketball for full postgame coverage.
SECOND HALF
-- Auburn 83, Yale 55 (3:49) | under-4 timeout: K.D. Johnson now has a game-high 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting for Auburn.
-- Auburn 74, Yale 47 (7:52) | under-8 timeout: Five Auburn players have at least 10 points today: Jabari Smith, K.D. Johnson, Dylan Cardwell, Devan Cambridge, Zep Jasper.
-- Auburn’s lead is up to 31 now with 9:01 to play.
-- Auburn is on a 7-0 run and has its largest lead of the game, now at 27 with 15 minutes to play.
-- Dylan Cardwell, who started the second half in place of Walker Kessler, with six early points before he heads to the bench. Auburn’s lead now up to 23 after an and-one by Jabari Smith.
-- KD Johnson airballs a 3-pointer, but Dylan Cardwell cleans it up, and Auburn’s lead is at 19, its biggest of the day.
HALFTIME: Auburn 47, Yale 30
-- K.D. Johnson with a steal and a dunk in the closing seconds of the half to push Auburn’s lead to a game-high 17 points. Johnson has 12 points to lead Auburn. Jabari Smith has 11 points and five boards. Devan Cambridge has seven and five. Auburn’s biggest advantages are in the paint (16-4 scoring edge) and off the bench (12-5).
-- Auburn 43, Yale 30 (1:33) | under-4 timeout: Zep Jasper hits Dylan Cardwell for an alley-oop in transition, and Auburn Arena is rocking. Yale answers with a 3-pointer. Then K.D. Johnson knocks down a corner 3; he has a team-high 10 points. Yale gets a layup in transition. Auburn shooting 47 percent overall and 50 percent (8-of-16) from 3-point range. Yale just at 30.3 percent overall from the field.
-- K.D. Johnson with a mini 5-0 run, including a layup after a sweet crossover and then a transition 3. Jabari Smith then gets a poster dunk down the lane. Auburn leads, 33-22.
-- Auburn 26, Yale 16 (7:51) | under-8 timeout: Auburn has nine blocks in a little more than 12 minutes. Devan Cambridge with the latest one, out on the perimeter. Program record is 17 for a game.
-- Make it a 9-0 run now for Auburn to push the lead to 26-13 after a Jabari Smith 3-pointer.
-- Devan Cambridge hits a corner 3-pointer to snap that Yale run, and then Dylan Cardwell blocks a shot on the other end. That’s Auburn’s eighth of the afternoon.
-- Yale on an 8-0 run now to cut Auburn’s lead to 17-13. Auburn has missed four straight and is two of its last 10 from the field.
-- Auburn 17, Yale 7 (11:55) | under-12 timeout: Auburn holding Yale to 3-of-16 shooting early on here. Tigers with seven blocked shots. Auburn also 3-of-6 from deep so far.
-- Yale finally on the board, as Auburn has blocked seven of its first 13 shot attempts. Wendell Green Jr. answers with a 3-pointer to make it 14-2.
-- Timeout on the floor, as K.D. Johnson is slow to get up under the basket. Auburn leads 11-0 with 15:23 to go in the half. Johnson gets up and walks off the court. He seems fine, as fans chant “K.D.! K.D.! K.D.!” at him.
-- Auburn 7, Yale 0 (17:27) | Yale timeout: Jabari Smith blocks a shot at the rim, and then Zep Jasper sets him up for a 3-pointer. Auburn has three blocks and leads 7-0 early here as Yale takes a timeout.
-- Walker Kessler already has two blocked shots.
-- Auburn wins the tip, and it gets on the board first with a pair of free throws from Devan Cambridge.
PREGAME
-- Auburn lineup: G Zep Jasper, G K.D. Johnson, G Devan Cambridge, F Jabari Smith, F Walker Kessler
-- Yale lineup: G Jalen Gabbidon, G Eze Dike, G Azar Swain, G Matthue Cotton, F Isaiah Kelly
AL.com will update this post.
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.