Auburn Basketball: Unhearlded guard play leads Tigers to first-ever Final Four
Auburn Basketball will be going to the program’s first Final Four this weekend. The heroes who brought them there came from their true strength.
Since the start of their program history, Auburn Basketball has only made the NCAA Tournament two times out of 113 seasons. And before the start of last year, the Tigers had a drought of 14 years of not going dancing. But since former Tennessee Head Coach Bruce Pearl arrived at the school, Auburn has slowly risen the ranks to being a contender.
It was all leading up to this season, with the Tigers having as much talent as they’ve ever had. In our 2018-19 preseason rankings, Auburn was ranked No. 10 and viewed as a legit Final Four threat. A big part of the early hype was the frontcourt depth, with potential NBA pros Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy re-joining the team paring with Chuma Okeke, Malik Dunbar, Horace Spencer and Anfernee McLemore down low. The potential was there so much I listed the group at No. 5 in my preseason frontcourt rankings.
What didn’t get as much hype or notice was what Auburn had in the team’s backcourt. It wasn’t that the cupboard was bare with Bryce Brown and Jared Harper returning but the loss of Mustapha Heron as a transfer was a legit blow, forcing the frontcourt to take more of the load.
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But the Tigers struggled all season long to find their footing. They went 11-7 in the SEC and outside of that regular-season finale victory over Tennessee, there wasn’t a moment where the team looked like a Final Four contender.
That changed in the SEC Tournament, where Auburn won four straight games (including a second win over the Vols) to capture the title and come into the Big Dance with momentum. It was nearly squandered out the gate with a near Round of 64 loss to New Mexico State.
The Tigers then had to face off against three straight powerhouses in Kansas, UNC and Kentucky. Few programs can withstand that kind of assault within just a week and it needed a heroic effort to get by.
Guards Brown and Harper provided that effort. The duo combined to score 43 points on nine three-pointers to dominate the Jayhawks and Harper dished out 11 assists in the 97-80 upset over the Tar Heels. The star of that game was Okeke but an unfortunate leg injury ended his tournament run, putting even more pressure on the perimeter to get it done.
The next foe was a team in Kentucky who already beaten Auburn twice, including a 27-point beatdown in Lexington. Without their best frontcourt player, the Tigers were definitive underdogs. Looked that way early on, with the Wildcats up with a sizable lead. However, the duo of Brown and Harper refused to go down big, hitting key shots to cut the deficit. That continued in the second half, with a 10-0 lead giving the team a lead.
It was a back-and-forth affair for the rest of the game, with basically all of Auburn’s bigs in foul trouble all game. That left Brown and Harper to do most of the work – which they were able to do.
The star duo combined for 50 of the team’s 77 points. Whether it was Brown’s lethal jumpers or Harper’s aggressive driving to the hole for key buckets, the Tigers allowed their backcourt to shine in Okeke’s absence to make the Final Four for the first time.
To a strong degree, Auburn’s backcourt has flown under the radar. In the eight-man All-SEC list, neither Tiger made First-Team (both made Second-Team). Tremont Waters from LSU and Tennessee’s Jordan Bone received much more national attention throughout the season. Those teams did play better than Auburn but from a talent perspective, Brown and Harper are right there with them.
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If Auburn was going to be a Final Four team, it was supposed to come by way of their frontcourt. But along with the coaching of Pearl, it was the Tigers on the perimeter that propelled the team to the final weekend. Their next opponent will be their toughest yet in Virginia and their top-notch defense. But if Bryce Brown and Jared Harper continue playing the way they are, no reason why Auburn can’t keep this run going.