At the 7:01 mark in the second half, Auburn reserve forward Brandon Robinson stole an LSU pass and drove the basket for a two-handed, reverse double-clutch dunk to give Auburn a 61-47 lead in front of a very quiet 11,024 fans.
Similar to Robinson’s steal and dunk, Auburn stole a road game over LSU on Wednesday 80-68 and got its biggest win in Baton Rouge since 1976.
“Call the cops because I’m a robber,” said Robinson, who scored 17 points off the bench to go with five steals and six rebounds on the night. “I’ve been in a slump. I just came out and had fun with these guys. Coming out with a victory feels great. That got my spark back.”
Robinson scored 11 of his points in the first half, which ended in a 33-33 tie and was the only Auburn offense in the first half. Robinson said all of Auburn’s hard work paid off in the second half.
“I told everybody on the team that if we play hard, we can’t be beat,” he said. “That’s what the guys did … worked hard, played defense, rebounded, limited our turnovers and came out with a victory. I think the pep talk worked. We came out and worked our tails off. My mom always said if you work hard it pays off.”
Robinson got scoring help in the second half, mainly on transition baskets.
Back-up guard Ian Young scored 18 points in the second half, including 12 in a 28-2 Auburn second-half run and finished with 21 points to lead the blue and orange Tigers.
“It was basically our transition game working,” Young said. “Coach Ellis has been getting on us to get down the floor. We were lacking easy baskets these last few games. Coach wanted me to go out and run the floor harder and run the wings. That’s how I got the easy baskets.”
As if the bench scoring was not enough, Auburn starting forward Marco Killingsworth scored 20 points with seven rebounds and hit 2-of-3 from behind the 3-point line after not hitting a 3-point shot all season.
“Brandon [Johnson] was saying if you see it, shoot it,” said Killingsworth, who came into the game 0-for-5 from the 3-point line coming into the game. “I just saw the shot and let it go. I just made sure my foot was behind the line. I was like, ‘What the heck?’ and just let it go.”
Killingsworth said it was rewarding to get a win, especially after losing to LSU 94-63 in Baton Rouge last year.
“When we got that victory, I was happy,” he said. “I was in my own little world.”
Killingsworth also took advantage of a hobbled Jaime Lloreda on Auburn’s offensive possessions. Lloreda was hobbled by multiple ankle spraigns in his right foot and bursitis in his left foot.
On the defensive end, Killingsworth held Lloreda to 12 points and seven rebounds.
“If we see something we’re going to take advantage of it,” Killingsworth said. “[Lloreda] was basically walking down the court.”
Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said the team’s game plan was to be physical.
“I thought we did a great job of playing a physical game,” Ellis said. “We came out and played with a lot of energy. LSU could have been overlooking us. I look back to when LSU made that run at the half. Our game was to be physical. I am sure [Lloreda’s] injury had an effect on him.”