AUBURN, Ala. - A new look for the Auburn High boys’ basketball team: pressure and tempo.
Auburn started the season with a 69-31 win at home over Loachapoka Tuesday night.
Auburn’s 2018-2019 season was nothing but mediocre. With a 15-12 record, they finished 18thoverall out of the 32 teams in 7A.
Head coach Chris Brandt was promoted as head coach after 23 years as assistant coach under Frank Tolbert. Brandt is looking to rebuild the program after Tolbert coached the Tigers for 36 years.
Auburn began full-court pressing on defense as soon as the game began. Senior power forward Trevor Mashburn and junior point guard Miles Hunt accounted for a combined seven steals.
Brandt said, “I’m trying to create our offense on defense by picking people up full court, by changing defense and that means you’ve got to sub a lot.”
They were nothing short of intense and fast as Auburn put up 25 points in the first quarter and shot 63%.
Brandt rotated a new starting five each quarter to give the players a break. This gave their players the boost to maintain their quick tempo and gave each player game time.
Hunt said, “We wanted to start off strong for the first game of the season. We tried to press them as much as we could and keep up the intensity.”
Loachapoka seemed stunned by Auburn’s quick pace and man defense. With two frantic technical fouls, the Indians put up a mere 11 points in the first quarter.
Mashburn said, “We’re trying to be more physical this year because last year we kind of got bullied around so we’re trying to be more physical and quicker.”
Loachapoka tried to close the gap before halftime, but Auburn continued to make shots due to their full court passing. Six players for Auburn each had at least two assists.
Auburn was missing three players due to an overlap with football season, two of whom are starters for the basketball team. Brandt said, “I have 11 players on the team until football is finished and when I do, I might continue this but it’s not our usual pace of play.”
Of the 11 players, there are three lowerclassmen on the team. Brandt said, “Even though we’ve got a lot of juniors and a few seniors on the team, I know we don’t have a lot of varsity experience from the last three or four years.”
Even though there are a few younger guys on the team, Brandt and the players have faith in their contributions to the team.
Mashburn said, “They’re already playing a lot harder, more physical and quicker than most tenth graders.” Brandt complimented the development he’s seen in the sophomores already from getting playing time with the upperclassmen.
With the addition of these younger players and the return of the upperclassmen, Auburn is looking to continue their physicality and improve on last year’s disappointing season.
Hunt said, “Last year was a rebuilding year; this year we’re trying to go for it all.”
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