Atlanta – Here is the thing about Auburn: Every day, in every way, it’s chaos personified. You think you have the tigers included and pinned, then they will drop a kick or a prayer to Jordan Hare on you … or maybe they will simply do a 34-8 race that unplops. Give them room to move, and they could trip on their own feet … or they could simply ruin your whole season.
Auburn has been in the elite eight Friday evening,, Defeat Michigan 78-65 In a game that felt much closer and not as competitive in a way as the score indicates. After 30 minutes of chaotic basketball that went from devastating comic, the tigers stopped searching with the Wolverines and completely trampled on them. Auburn mounted the delirious wave of his thousands of fans present and was very clear: when this team is underway, there is not much that can turn them off.
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With about a minute in the NCAA tournament Game, the result already guaranteed, the first year Tahaad Pettiford has dribbled the later area with one hand and signaled the faithful of the tigers to become stronger with the other. They forced, filling the agricultural arena of the state with horses “It’s great!” To be! A burning tiger at the level! ” Songs.
There was a little poetic justice at work there with Pettiford giant the ball in the last seconds because he – with Johni Broome and Denver Jones – transported the tigers to a declaration victory. Auburn overturned a deficit of nine points in an advance in just 2,1/2 minutes halfway from the second half, a vicious and overwhelming wave that Michigan had no hope of countering.
No game has summed up Auburn’s victory as well as Pettiford’s most spectacular shot, a falling facade which has somehow dropped through the net just when it touched the ground:
This basket put Auburn at the top of 12 and was, in fact, the dagger which ended the Michigan season, not to mention Vintage Pettiford – finally, also “vintage” as a first -year student.
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“He gives a spark. He is a good person. He listens to us,” said Broome afterwards. “There are not too many first -year students who can resume a game as he can.”
Broome finished the match with 22 points and 17 rebounds-a triple-double-double head coach Bruce Pearl Ru, when you take into account the 12 failed Broome shots. Jones added 20 other points, part of the incredible 34th Auburn 10-0 race over the season.
“I just felt that the basket grow, and I just wanted to continue to be aggressive,” said Jones. “The coach involves me more in the rooms, and I get more.”
Now comes a Sunday match with Michigan State, a fierce challenge at the same time due to Tom Izzo long -term softened And the stifling defense of Spartans. Stake: a final place Four.
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“(If) Michigan can return us more than 15 times, Michigan State can return to us 25 times, ok? It’s a concern, and these guys know it,” Pearl said. “Give credit to Michigan, they have extended, they disturbed us, and Michigan State will be even better in this area. It is one of the best defensive teams in the country, and they will be very, very physical with us. ”
Before this year, Auburn had reached a n ° 1 AP ranking in the history of the program: four years ago, when the team lost in the second round. And the Tigers had only one seeded tournament n ° 1 once before this season: 1999, when they lost in the round of 16. Auburn has a finale of Final Four: 2019, when she lost against the possible national champion Virginia.
So this year’s tigers are not yet in a new territory, but they are very close. And they are as prepared and talented as any Auburn team has ever been in the history of the school. A national championship is well at hand … but there will be chaotic and unexpected turns before Auburn cuts the nets in one way or another.