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Bruce Pearl explains Auburn’s near-collapse against New Mexico State in Round 1 of NCAA Tournament
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The way the Tigers are playing, there may not be a hotter team than Auburn entering the Sweet 16. While Bruce Pearl’s squad is facing off against No. 1 seed North Carolina on Friday, there is hope on The Plains that Auburn can advance to the Elite 8 considering the run Pearl’s team is currently in the month of March.
While all of that is true, we nearly didn’t get the matchup of the Tigers and the Tar Heels after Auburn nearly coughed up a big lead in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament to New Mexico State.
The Tigers had a double-digit lead for nearly the entire second half and were up eight points with 2:13 left in the game but New Mexico State managed to have the ball last and actually got off a clean shot for the win at the buzzer. Thankfully for the Tigers, that shot resulted in an airball and Auburn advanced to the Round of 32.
During a recent appearance on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” Pearl was asked by Finebaum to explain what happened to the Tigers during that stretch. According to the Auburn coach, his team was physically exhausted heading into that game and it nearly cost them dearly.
“We were exhausted on Thursday morning in Salt Lake City,” Pearl said on the show. “We had played four incredible games in Nashville, you were there to witness it. But we are talking Missouri, South Carolina, Florida and then Tennessee in the championship game on Sunday and we came back to campus Sunday night. We went to class on Monday, we traveled out to Utah Tuesday. We had one practice on Wednesday then we played Thursday morning — our kids were popped.
“You may not have noticed it until the last couple minutes of the game where it definitely had its effect. We made six or seven plays down the stretch that almost cost us the game. We made five out of six three throws, we had a big enough lead, it’s called survive and advance for a reason and this is March Madness, so why should Auburn be any different?”
Following that near-collapse, Auburn went on to destroy Kansas 89-75 in a game that wasn’t even as close as the final score indicated, setting up the Friday night showdown with North Carolina. Thankfully for Pearl, his team gets an extra day of rest for the Tar Heels and they are going to need it to pull off the upset of the top-seeded team in the Midwest Region.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
