LEXINGTON, KY.—Auburn has now won three times as many games in Rupp Arena this month as it did in the previous 37 years.
The third, an 82-70 South Regional second ground triumph over No. 9-seeded Creighton Saturday night, propels the No. 1 -seeded Tigers to next week’s Sweet 16 in Atlanta. Their opponent will be fifth-seeded Michigan, a 91-79 winner over fellow SEC school Texas A&M.
Auburn didn’t get a national player of the year performance from 6-foot-10, 240-pound post man Johni Brome who scored only eight points on 4-of-13 shooting (he did grab 12 rebounds). The Tigers’ guards did the bulk of the damage. Tahaad Pettiford—a 6-foot-1 freshman who clearly loves Rupp; he scored 21 against Kentucky earlier this month—led the way with 23 points. Chad Baker-Mazara, a 6-7 senior, following with 17 points and 6-4 senior Denver Jones added 15.
Another key was defense. Creighton shot 51.9 percent from the field and 64.3 percent from three-point range in the first half, but only 42.3 and 23.1 in the second.
This game was in stark contrast to the Tigers’ first-round victory over 16th-seeded Alabama State. Auburn won handily enough (83-63), but shot 56.3 percent from the free-throw line (18 of 32) and allowed the Hornets 14 points off turnovers.
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That prompted a warning, in no uncertain terms, from coach Bruce Pearl.
“Part of (missing free throws) is valuing possessions,” Pearl said. “And if there’s one thing I can get my guys from this point forward to lock into right now, did we value every possession on the defensive end? Did we value any offensive end scoring through contact? Did we just rely on the whistle? And then would we finish plays?
“That’s the biggest difference right now between the way we were playing earlier in the season and the way we’re playing right now (Auburn lost three of its last four games heading into the tournament). You can do that against a team that you’re better than, but you can’t do that—we won’t be able to do that—from this point forward.”
Suffice it to say the Tigers responded. You want made free throws, coach? How about 15 of 21? You want ball security? How about seven turnovers?
“I’m very proud of my team,” Pearl said. “We played Auburn basketball. We acted like the No. 1 team in the country. We prepared like the No. 1 team in the country. We talked a little bit about game one (against Alabama State) not giving the kind of effort and energy that was required. Not really trusting one another, sharing it, and the sacrifices that need to be made.”
Indicative of that effort Pearl demanded was the defensive number Jones, Auburn’s 6-foot-4 senior, did on Steven Ashworth, Creighton’s 6-foot senior. Ashworth scored 11 first-half points but ended the game with just 13. On Friday, Creighton coach Doug McDermott told the media that whoever guards Ashworth, known for his constant movement and cutting, was going to be tired when the game was over.
So the question had to be posed of Jones. Was he tired?
“Not going to lie,” Jones said. “I was pretty tired after the game. It was a lot of work chasing him around those screens.”
So how did he get the job done?
“Honestly putting forth the effort and energy,” Jones said. “We talked about the type of team we were going to play and what we needed to work on. And coming into this game you could feel in the air that today was a lot different than (Thursday).”
