GameDay Dunk-A-Thon

by | Feb 13, 2022

Tigers take down Texas A&M 75-58, Kessler gets second triple-double

It was an absolute Dunk-A-Thon at Auburn Arena Saturday as ESPN GameDay visited the plains.  The Tigers whipped the Aggies as Walker Kessler showed the country what BIG man means !   Take a look for yourself……Video, Pics and Post-Game for you….

AUBURN, Ala. – Sophomore Walker Kessler recorded his second triple-double of the season and the third in Auburn history, and the Tigers bounced back from Tuesday night’s loss with an emphatic 75-58 win over Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon.

 

Kessler, coming off a 19-rebound effort against Arkansas, finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 12 blocks. With a triple-double earlier in the season against LSU (16 points, 10 rebounds, 11 blocks), he becomes the fifth player in SEC history with multiple triple-doubles, and he’s the only player in the country with two this season.

 

Kessler’s 12 blocks were a career high and set the tone early for one of Auburn’s best defensive efforts of the season. Texas A&M didn’t reach double digits in points until 5:14 left in the first half and shot just 27.1 percent (19-70) from the field for the game. 

 

It was a slow start for the Tigers as well, but that changed when sophomore K.D. Johnson threw down a one-hand slam midway through the first half and energized the sold-out crowd at Auburn Arena. Prior to the dunk, Auburn was 4 of 16 from the field. The Tigers made 8 of 13 shots to close out the half and took a 33-18 lead into the intermission.

 

Johnson scored nine points in the first half and finished with 11 points. He was one of four Auburn players to score in double figures along with Kessler, Allen Flanigan and Devan Cambridge. Flanigan led the way with 16 points on 5 of 11 shooting.

 

It was a season high in points for Flanigan, the team’s leading scorer a season ago.

 

Cambridge scored 10 points and had three different dunks for the highlight reel. He got the behind the defense in the first half and threw down an alley-oop dunk from Wendell Green Jr. A few minutes later, he got out in transition and finished with a one-handed tomahawk slam. And he put down another alley-oop with one hand in the second half.

 

It was a productive day for the bench as a whole as Dylan Cardwell had nine points and Jaylin Williams matched Kessler with a team-high 11 rebounds to go with five points.

 

Auburn also welcomed back point guard Zep Jasper who started and played 24 minutes Saturday after missing the last two games with an illness (non-COVID related).

 

With the win, the Tigers (22-2, 11-1) kept their two-game lead atop the SEC standings. They will be back home Wednesday night to take on Vanderbilt at 8 p.m. CT.  

 

TEXAS A&M POSTGAME NOTES

  • For the ninth game this season, Auburn went with the starting five of sophomore K.D. Johnson, graduate senior Zep Jasper, junior Allen Flanigan, freshman Jabari Smith and sophomore Walker Kessler (9-0).
  • With the win, Auburn snapped a two-game skid in the all-time series with Texas A&M – its first win against the Aggies in three years (W, 85-66 on Jan. 16, 2019).
  • Walker Kessler extended his double-digit scoring streak to a team-leading nine-consecutive games turning in his second career triple-double performance of the season with 12 points, 11 rebounds and career-high 12 blocked shots versus Texas A&M. It marked his 11th double-double of his career and 10th of the season. He recorded the third all-time triple-double in program history – only the fifth player in SEC history with multiple triple-doubles and the only player in NCAA Division I with two this season.
  • Allen Flanigan scored the first four points in the contest to end the afternoon with a game-and season-high 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and 5-for-6 from the charity stripe versus Texas A&M. It marked his fifth game this season in double digits – all in SEC play.
  • K.D. Johnson has been one of the most consistent scorers on the team in SEC play. He tallied 11 points against Texas A&M – his 10th double-digit game in the last 11 contests for the Tigers.
  • Jasper returned to the lineup against Texas A&M after missing the last two games due to illness (non-COVID related). He logged in 24 minutes versus the Aggies.
  • The Tigers held the Aggies without a basket for the first four minutes of the ballgame. Defensively, Texas A&M was held to an opponent season low 17.9 percent (7-39) shooting from the field in the first half. The previous low was 20.0 percent in the first half versus then No. 16-ranked LSU (5-25) on Dec. 29. It was also tied as A&M’s lowest scoring output of the season.
  • Both teams shot season lows from beyond the three-point arc – Auburn (12%, 3-25) and Texas A&M (14%, 3-22).
  • The AUTLIVE Cancer game was the 53rd sellout game in Auburn Arena history and 20th-consecutive sellout game (9,121) since the end of the 2019-20 season.