With just over ten minutes in the game on the clock, silence engulfed the crowd at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Johni Broome, Auburn’s standout player, limped off of the court, holding his elbow tightly and grimacing in pain. Television cameras caught the fifth-year senior mouthing, “I’m done,” as he walked off the floor with his mother, who had rushed to him.
After six minutes, however, Broome returned and buried a three-pointer from the right wing. That shot crushed Michigan State’s dream of a journey to the Final Four, and it gave rise to jubilation from the Auburn fans. For the second time in six years, a spot in the Final Four has been reserved for the Tigers after a 70-64 victory over Michigan State in the South Regional final.
Bruce Pearl fully took this Auburn program and turned it into a basketball school. This season, the Tigers flat-out shined with a record of 27-2 and spent most of the season as the No. 1 team ranked in the FOX Sports Top 25. Though they came into the NCAA Tournament on some bad form, having lost three of their last four games, it could have been argued that Auburn was struggling to find its stride in March.
But with Broome leading the charge, the Tigers stepped on the gas and never looked back against a Big Ten regular-season champion team who saw their season end after one of Tom Izzo’s most masterly coaching displays.
While Broome was the star on Sunday, in the earlier win against Michigan, Jones and Pettiford had combined for 52 points. An amazing 17-0 run over just five minutes in the first half pushed the Tigers ahead 23-8 just ten minutes into the game. The Spartans chipped away at the deficit but found themselves pretty much at the mercy of their early deficit, having only led for a mere 22 seconds in the entire match.
