BY NOAH GRIFFITH
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN –– “Six more” was the message to Auburn fans when the team returned to Toomer’s Corner from Nashville after winning the SEC Tournament for the third time in program history.
Auburn University men’s basketball has won its last six games, and it will need to win six more to bring the program’s first ever national championship to the Plains. Hours after winning the SEC Tournament, Auburn was selected as a 4 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
On his way to SEC Tournament MVP, senior Johni Broome notched two double-doubles to help Auburn take down South Carolina, Mississippi State and Florida and sweep its way to head coach Bruce Pearl’s second SEC Tournament Championship at Auburn — the Tigers’ second in five years.
“We’ve won a few [SEC Tournaments]; I think this one is the most special,” said head coach Bruce Pearl. “Maybe it’s because it’s in my 10th year here at Auburn or because the bond that this team had. I wanted it really badly for these guys. Or maybe just the fact that this league was that good.”
The senior center notched 2,000 career points while leading the team with 19 points and 11 rebounds in the title game against Florida, and Pearl notched his 200th career win at Auburn heading into the Big Dance.
In the SEC Tournament, Auburn won each game with stellar defense. Auburn has been known to rack up points and blow teams out, with the 13th best scoring offense in the country, but the Tigers forced 10 or more turnovers in all three games and held each opponent under 70 points.
Even Florida, who ranks sixth in the nation in scoring offense, was held to 67 points on 36.4% shooting as a team. Auburn got its first win by single digits in a 73-66 win over Mississippi State, and it completed a season sweep of South Carolina in an 86-55 victory.
“That’s why this team is so good, — because we can adapt,” Broome said. “If y’all want to have a shootout, we can have a shootout. If your guys want to rough it up a little bit, play more physical, we can do that, too.”
Auburn will need to keep adapting to survive in the NCAA Tournament, as it is starting with a team in unfamiliar territory.
Just hours after hoisting the conference tournament trophy, Auburn learned it is going to play No. 13-seed Yale (22-9) in Spokane, Washington, on Friday, March 22. Auburn did not face an Ivy League team this season, and the closest it came to the state of Washington was the season opener in South Dakota.
Notching an automatic bid in dramatic fashion, Yale knocked down a buzzer beater against Brown to take the Ivy League Championship, securing its third NCAA Tournament appearance out of the last four tournaments. This is the fourth time “dancing” under 24-year head coach James Jones, but the Bulldogs are 1-3 in the first round in those appearances.
Yale prides itself on defense, allowing just 66.6 points per game while owning a positive 1.5 turnover margin. It turns the ball over just 9.5 times a game – 11th fewest turnovers in the NCAA.
Auburn will need to utilize its size advantage against a well-coached, disciplined team in Yale to advance to face the winner of San Diego State and UAB. No NCAA win comes easy, but Auburn hasn’t lost in the first round of any of four NCAA Tournament appearances under Pearl.
Auburn has exited in the second round of the NCAA Tournament the past two years, but history might be on its side.
The last time Auburn won the SEC Tournament, in 2019, it went on a historic run to the Final Four — as a 5 seed — defeating New Mexico State, Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky in the process. The Tigers are once again hoping for a special tournament run, but this team will do things its own way.
“We’re playing for a coach, BP, the staff we have, the players that we have, the bond that we have, the chemistry that we have — it just makes it more special,” Broome said.
In Pearl’s 10th tenure on the Plains, Auburn is hoping there’s some magic left as it attempts to win two tournaments in a row. Auburn’s tournament path starts with Yale at 3:15 on Friday, and the winner advances in the East Region — which is led by the nation’s top overall seed, UConn.
Auburn is playing in its 13th NCAA Tournament in program history, but the Tigers’ are expecting to go much further than they have the past two years. Broome’s message to fans made that clear.
“We’re not losing no more,” Broome said after winning the SEC Championship.