Auburn’s statement against Tennessee: We can miss everything and still win big games

AUBURN, Alabama — If you were at the practice Bruce Pearl put his Auburn Tigers through on Friday at Neville Arena — and you’re always welcome, by the way, as is anyone who can make it — you saw a few clear themes.

One is Zakai Zeigler. The Tennessee senior point guard makes everything work for the Vols on both ends of the floor, and if the Tigers didn’t already realize it, their coach made them keen. Second, Pearl wanted his players to understand how much more difficult Rick Barnes’ team would make it for them to do things they enjoy doing, such as cutting without shock, passing without available oxygen, and shooting without hands and elbows in their row. vision.

Kudos to the scout team for doing such an effective job of demonstrating the finer points of a rock game that the actual Auburn basketball team decided to share on a Saturday. The best offense in all of college basketball had a greater collection of fumbles, odd passes and shot-clock violations than it did aesthetically pleasing plays by the end of an exhausting Saturday. But the no. 1-ranked teams that possess that offense still won 53-51.

And these are not small things.

“That was a tough one,” said Auburn senior forward Johni Broome, whose 16-point, 13-rebound, 33-minute, no-holds-barred intensity performance on an injured left ankle was the stuff of Naismiths and Woodens. “But we got it done.”

It won’t be the last time the Tigers (18-1, 6-0 SEC) enter a game that doesn’t suit their stylistic preferences. It usually happens a lot in March. It may be the last time they play no. 6 Vols (17-3, 4-3 SEC) – let’s hope the SEC and NCAA tournaments provide rematches – and if so, they might not see a tougher and tougher opponent.

But having enough of those elements yourself, as personified by Broome and found in several other contributors Saturday, is how you overcome a hot-shooting, undersized opponent at some point. Or an annoying bunch from the Ivy League. Or whatever. This is how you overcome the strange disappearance of the best part of your own game.

“We’ve got to have games like this,” Auburn’s Miles Kelly said of a 3-for-20 night from long range for a team that ranked 24th nationally in 3-point accuracy at 38.2 percent. “Every shooting night won’t be ours.”

Tennessee, the best 3-point defending team in the sport (25.9 percent), won that game. But Tennessee didn’t win the game. Auburn’s top-15 defense made sure of that, starting with the ability to deploy Denver Jones, Tahaad Pettiford and even a little bit of Chad Baker-Mazara to Zeigler. Auburn’s will provided it, a 6-0 run in the final 1:46, urged on by 9,121 fans who roared in response.

Broome and Kelly made sure of that. The final run included a crucial Pettiford bucket, a traveling call on UT’s Felix Okpara in the face of Broome’s chasing (perhaps overly chasing) defense, Chaney Johnson blocking Igor Milicic Jr. on a drive and Zeigler just missed a drive against Broome after getting him and his sore ankle on a switch — a matchup of two players who should be All-Americans when this season ends.

The biggest play was Broome slipping to the basket, getting the ball, getting it knocked off his hands by Milicic, getting it back and zipping it out to a waiting Kelly in the corner. It was clean, it was in rhythm, that was rare in this game. And it was good with 30 seconds left.

That was the answer to the question Pearl asked his team, the key question for any coach in a game like this: “Who, through that exhaustion, could play a game?”

Auburn has been in several close games this season and has lost one, on the road against the other clear national title favorite, Duke. But the 53 points were 13 shy of the previous low, in a 66-63 win at South Carolina — the Jan. 11 game that injured Broome, causing him to miss the next two games. The Tigers are still No. 1 nationally in offensive efficiency according to Kenpom.com with 1,293 points per game. possession. It was .869 this night.

This affair saw the teams go a combined 7-for-42 on 3-pointers, with 34 fouls, 23 turnovers and 35 field goals between them. Maybe that wasn’t what ESPN was hoping for in its “College GameDay” debut feature. But there is beauty in the bump of a cutter, the deflection of a pass, the denial of an intention.

“High-level play,” Barnes said, and he left the arena with optimism, believing the Vols can still get much better, knowing he has a point guard like no other in Zeigler: “The heartbeat of our team.”

The problem for Tennessee is that Zeigler doesn’t have a backup. He played 39 minutes, turned in 14 points, six rebounds and five assists with one turnover.

“Unbelievable,” Pearl said of the stat line. “Just unbelievable.”

And that’s to say nothing of the defense Zeigler employed on Pettiford and Jones, leaving them a combined 3-for-17. That’s the kind of thing that tires legs, and tired legs may help explain why Zeigler missed all six of his 3-point attempts.

The Tigers also made it difficult for UT leading scorer Chaz Lanier. He scored 10. A year ago, the guy in the same general role, Dalton Knecht, had 39 points in a Tennessee comeback win over Auburn. Tennessee isn’t quite as good this season. Auburn is better.

The Vols don’t have the depth that the Tigers do, and they don’t have a player who can create space in the post against any opponent and force a defense to adjust to him.

Auburn has that player. He woke up Saturday morning to find that a Tennessee fan had put a picture of the orange Tennessee “T” on his car and had also constructed a “T” in his lawn. Or maybe it was a sly Auburn fan (see: “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” Forest Whitaker as Charles Jefferson).

Regardless, Broome said, “At that moment, I knew I was playing no matter what.”

How much? After Pearl was sure mid-week that he wouldn’t be ready? After two weeks of ankle rehab, but little chance to stop conditioning?

“I thought maybe 20 minutes,” Pearl said. “Maybe. Maybe.”

But there was no win in this game, the biggest yet this season, the second top-10 matchup ever at Auburn, between the SEC’s two winningest programs in the last eight seasons, without everything Broome could provide. His “triple-double,” Pearl joked, included points, rebounds and 12 missed shots on 19 attempts, a perfect stat line for a night like this.

It ended with Tennessee back at No. 1 in the nation in defensive efficiency. And without a doubt that the team no. 1 in the nation has the depth, versatility, intangibles and superstardom to stay there.

(Top photo of Auburn’s Johni Broome making a move in the post against Tennessee: Jake Crandall / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)