Auburn was in danger at Mizzou Arena. Fortunately for the nation’s top-ranked team, that’s also apparently what the “D” in K.D. Johnson’s name stands for.
The tenacious two-guard came up big for Auburn during the team’s first-ever game as the No. 1 team in the country. Johnson scored a team-high 17 points and sparked two pivotal stretches for Auburn during its 55-54 win, as it escaped Columbia, Mo., with a gut-check win on the road.
“K.D.’s just — he’s a dangerous man, and he’s not afraid of the moment,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said.
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On a night in which Auburn couldn’t buy a basket, shooting just 30 percent as a team and 25 percent in the second half, Johnson helped will his squad to its 16th straight win. He was one of only two Auburn players to shoot above 33 percent for the game — Walker Kessler was the other, going 5-of-10 from the field — and finished the night 6-of-13 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.
Moreover, though, Johnson’s offensive outbursts came during critical moments for Auburn (19-1, 8-0 SEC).
He scored six straight points for the team, including five unanswered during a crucial 8-0 run by Auburn late in the first half. After trailing by as many as 10 in the opening stanza and enduring its worst shooting night of the season, Auburn took its first lead of the game with 3:11 to go in the first half thanks in large part to Johnson.
The Georgia transfer split a pair of free throws with 4:48 to play in the half to get Auburn within six, 26-20. Then, after Missouri’s Jarron Coleman split a pair from the line on the other end, Johnson connected on a 3-pointer to draw within four. He followed that with a steal on Missouri’s ensuring possession and finished with a fastbreak layup to cut the deficit to two.
That led to Jabari Smith — who experienced a rare off night of his own — knocking down a 3-pointer to put Auburn in front, 28-27, for the first time all night.
It was one of 11 lead changes during a slog of a back-and-forth affair in Columbia, but it was Johnson who delivered the decisive lead change in the game’s final two minutes. With Auburn trailing by one with 2:24 to play, Johnson attacked the lane and made a circus layup — and drew a foul in the process — with 87 ticks remaining on the clock.
That three-point play put Auburn in front, 53-51, and it ended a 2-minute, 17-second scoreless drought for Auburn.
“We needed a bucket, and I just went for it,” Johnson said. “I didn’t really care how it was going to come or who it was going to come from. And the ball came to me at the moment, so I just took it.”
Johnson then essentially put Missouri away with 47 seconds to play, finishing strong at the rim again to push the lead to four, this time after Allen Flanigan came up with a steal on the other end of the court.
“We weren’t having a great offensive game,” Johnson said. “In those last few minutes, I was just trying to make a play for my team, and I came through in the clutch.”
Johnson’s 17-point performance marked his sixth straight game in double figures. Since being limited to two points in a win against South Carolina on Jan. 4, Johnson is averaging 16 points per game for Auburn during that six-game stretch.
He was also, arguably, Auburn’s second-best defender Tuesday night. He finished second only to Smith in defensive rating (98.1) and stop rate (60.5) percent against Missouri, and he also finished with three steals — and a 7.3 percent steal rate — giving him his fourth game with at least three takeaways during that same stretch.
“It gives your team a lot of confidence,” Pearl said of Johnson’s pivotal runs against Missouri. “…He just makes a lot happen. You’ve got to account for him, and we probably need to go to him more.”
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.
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