Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers were the No. 1 team in the country for eight weeks running before a road defeat at Texas A&M, and an overtime loss to Alabama in the regular season finale. Now, after falling 70-65 to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament semifinals, the Tigers have lost three of four and appear to be reeling, but this early exit in the conference tourney could be good news for the likely No. 1 seed in the big dance.
A year ago, Auburn got red hot in the SEC Tournament, rolling to the conference title with a dominant win over Florida on Selection Sunday. However, Pearl’s group seemingly peaked too early, losing to Yale in a 13-over-4 upset in the Round of 64 78-76.
The SEC title set the Tigers up as a National Championship dark horse, but an early Chad Baker-Mazara ejection and a disappointing performance from a mercurial backcourt doomed the SEC champs. This year, Auburn has an extra day of rest, and more importantly than that, Pearl will have their full attention.
Baker-Mazara has continued to toe the line between helpful nuisance and net-negative, and on Saturday against Tennessee, Tahaad Pettiford and Denver Jones combined to go 1-14 from the field. Jones scored 10 points and was 7-8 from the line, but Pettiford, a heat-check guard off the bench, posted a goose egg. The backcourt, especially Pettiford, routinely settled for bad shots early in the shot clock, while potential National Player of the Year Johni Broome led the way with 23 points, but only took 13 shots.
Broome was double-teamed on post touches for much of the second half and as a skilled passer, he found open shooters, but they failed to knock down open shots. Auburn is the No. 1 team in the country by Kenpom-adjusted offensive efficiency, but Tennessee’s physical defense stifled their attack.
As a team built around a frontcourt superstar, Auburn relies on its guards to get the ball into Broome’s hands, so Pearl will need better play from Jones Pettiford and Miles Kelly in the NCAA Tournament. This loss presents a chance for this group to reset, as Pearl did last offseason when he re-tooled his entire backcourt with Tre Donaldson leaving for Michigan, Aden Holloway heading to Alabama, and KD Johnson transferring to George Mason.
While the Tigers can’t make roster changes in preparation for March Madness, with three losses in four games, Pearl’s players will be more open to any coaching he offers between now and tip-off in the Round of 64.
Pearl is already the winningest coach in Auburn history and took the Tigers to the Final Four in 2019. However, in his three tournament appearances since that historic run, he’s yet to advance beyond the first weekend. Auburn still might be the best team in the country, and the pressure is on this group and its coach, so a wake-up call in Nashville could be exactly what it needed.
To the crowd that – like John Calipari – has devalued conference tournaments, winning the league still matters. It’s even important for teams that are locked into the big dance. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t silver linings to an early exit, and maybe after Saturday’s loss, Auburn will have a much longer stay in March Madness this time around.