Auburn confident and ready for Kansas

In its NCAA Tournament opener against Northeastern on Thursday night, a number of national analysts expected the Huskies to shoot their way past Kansas, the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region, in Salt Lake City.

However, on a night when Kansas completely dominated Northwestern, the Huskies shot just 28.1 percent (16-of-57) from the field and 21.4 percent (6-of-28) from behind the arc. The Jayhawks dominated the points in the paint, 50-17, owned the glass, 45-27, and committed just 12 turnovers.

Now, Kansas will turn its attention, to an Auburn team that, just like Northeastern, can light up the scoreboard from behind the arc. This season, the Tigers, the No. 5 seed in the Midwest Region, have connected on 37.7 percent of their shots from behind the arc and average 11.3 made three pointers per game.

Auburn guard Bryce Brown, when talking to the media on Friday, wasn’t concerned with how Kansas defended Northeastern from behind the arc on Thursday. In fact, it’s almost like Brown expects a different result when the Jayhawks and Tigers clash on Saturday night.

“I don't know much about what Northeastern and I'm assuming, since you said they were a good three-point shooting team, I'm guessing Kansas did a pretty good job of making them attack the basket, running them off the line, which is what I can see them trying to do against us,” said Brown. And our job is to make our teammates better, me and Jared and Chuma, the primary playmakers, to get inside the paint and not only finish, but to try and drive and draw to our teammates hoping they can get open looks as well.

“So taking note that you said that Northeastern is a good perimeter shooting team, I still don't feel they're the team we are because we have quick guards that are not just able to shoot but we can also get downhill as well,” he added.

Kansas, without question, will have its hands full defending Auburn on the perimeter. Eight players, J’Von McCormick (58.8 percent), Samir Doughty (42.3 percent), Bryce Brown (40.0 percent), Jared Harper (38.2 percent), Chuma Okeke (37.9 percent), Danjel Purifoy (35.0 percent), Makil Dunbar (34.5 percent), and Anfernee McLemore (32.7 percent) all have the ability to connected from downtown.

Against New Mexico State, Auburn drilled 12-of-31 shots from behind the arc, and will look to do the same against Kansas on Saturday night.

Auburn, with a trip to the Sweet 16 at stake, is as confident as any team in the tournament heading into its matchup against Kansas.

“We know what it takes at this point to beat these top tier teams, similar of Kansas,” said Brown. “And as we knocked off Tennessee about a week ago, we kind of knowing what it takes, we know what type of ball we have to play, which is knocking down three-pointers, that's our game style, as well as defending and getting up inside of our defenders. That's when we are at our best, forcing turnovers.

“And we have to be physical, especially with a team like Kansas, we have to be physical because we are undersized and they have a very physical presence down low,” he added. “It is our jobs as guards to help the bigs as well, you know, get down there and help them out.”