Auburn basketball took care of business Tuesday by crushing Oklahoma, 98-70, in front of another sellout crowd at Neville Arena in Auburn.
The No. 1 Tigers smashed Oklahoma in shooting by connecting on 52% of its field goal tries, compared to the Sooners’ 33%. Auburn also turned 15 Oklahoma turnovers into 22 points and blocked 11 shots. Offensively, Auburn outscored the Sooners in the paint, 46-20, and scored 14 points on a fast break.
It was a dominating effort all the way around. How did Auburn’s performance against Oklahoma affect its KenPom ranking? Here is a look at where Auburn stands ahead of Wednesday’s action around college basketball.
Overall: No. 1
No surprise here as the Tigers hang on to their No. 1 ranking in KenPom. The Tigers extended its lead over Duke by nearly two full points, +37.09-+35.69. The Blue Devils will look to close Auburn’s gap Wednesday when it battles Syracuse in the JMA Wireless Dome.
Offensive efficiency: No. 1
Auburn’s offensive efficiency continues to be miles ahead of everyone else. Its 130.8 offensive efficiency rating is nearly six points higher than that of No. 2 Kentucky, which has a 125.2 offensive efficiency rating heading into Wednesday. The gap between No. 1 Auburn and No. 2 Kentucky is similar to that between Kentucky and No. 13 Arizona.
Defensive efficiency: No. 11
The Tigers enjoyed a taste of a top-10 defensive efficiency rating Tuesday. However, once the dust settled on Tuesday’s college basketball action, Michigan State became the No. 10 team in the category. Still, Auburn continues to climb in this category with a rating of 93.7, up two spots from its win over Ole Miss last Saturday.
Tempo: No. 123
Auburn’s trend of creating more possessions continued Tuesday. Auburn built 72 possessions, nearly five possessions higher than KenPom’s suggested output. Tuesday’s win over Oklahoma marks the third-straight game in which Auburn exceeded its projected tempo output from KenPom. The upward trend has caused Auburn to climb 23 spots in adjusted tempo over the last week.
Strength of schedule: No. 1
Auburn’s strength of schedule continues to be the toughest in the country. Auburn’s opponents have the best defensive efficiency rating in the nation at 98.3 while Auburn’s opponents rank No. 5 nationally with an efficiency rating of 113.5.
Florida overview
How important is Auburn’s next game? Students are already lining up for the chance to get a great seat in “The Jungle” to watch the No. 1 Tigers face No. 6 Florida on Saturday afternoon. The Gators regrouped from its loss to Tennessee last Saturday by taking down Vanderbilt, 86-75, in Gainesville on Tuesday. Here is where Florida stands in the KenPom following Tuesday’s action.
Overall: No. 5
Offensive efficiency: No. 5 (124.1)
Defensive efficiency: No. 14 (94.0)
Tempo: No. 99 (68.7)
Strength of schedule: No. 49
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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Auburn takes giant step forward in KenPom after taking down Oklahoma
