ATLANTA — Everything Auburn has accomplished this season comes down to a single promise.
It’s doubtful the Tigers (31-5) would have become the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament if Pearl hadn’t told Johni Broome, the 6-10, 240-pound senior, and Dylan Cardwell, the 6-foot-11, 255-pound graduate student that if they both chose to return to school, rather than enter the NBA Draft pool or the transfer portal, he would start them together.
Broome has played well enough to be in serious consideration for national player of the year honors. And Cardwell has been a shot-blocker, a rebounder and, most important, a glue guy who holds this team together.
After Pearl made his promise and Broome and Cardwell bought in, the coach took his plan to his players. He got no complaints.
“I actually was all about it,” 6-foot-7 senior Chad Baker-Mazara told Hoops HQ. “Because last year we [started two bigs] when we played at Georgia, and we really dominated Georgia. I felt confident. I actually went to coach and said we should do that again last year. But we didn’t. Whenever he brought that to us this year, I was all up about it.”
Cardwell was hopeful about starting alongside Broome, but he wasn’t expecting how the Tigers’ season has played out.
“I knew coming back that I wanted a chance to win the national championship, but I didn’t see it happening in this kind of way where we won Maui, we had a chance to play at Duke, we beat Houston…I couldn’t predict this, no.” Cardwell said.
It’s a good thing the Tigers have become dependent on their twin towers lineup. Pearl’s teams are also known for playing a frenetic style and hoisting three-pointers. But the latter isn’t likely going to be as big a weapon for them on Sunday when they play Michigan State in the South Regional Elite Eight.
This game is going to be won or lost in the trenches.
Some numbers tell the story. Michigan State is No. 2 in the nation, per KenPom.com, in three-point field-goal defense (28.0 percent) and No. 15 in effective field-goal percentage defense.
Auburn has an exceptional group of three-point shooters — Denver Jones (42.4 percent), Miles Kelly (38.6), Baker-Mazara (37.9) and Tahaad Pettiford (37.7), but the Tigers are going to have to work to get their shots.
Chances are Broome, who’s averaging a double-double (18.5 points per game, 10.8 rebounds per game) and is shooting 50.5 percent from the field, is going to get plenty of touches.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo seemingly has a story to preface any answer he gives the media. In response to a question about Auburn’s overall size, even in the backcourt, he told a winding tale about playing Wisconsin, then coached by Dick Bennett, four times in a season. The point was to convey how he’s become adaptable in how his teams play.
“I learned early in my career that you’d better be able to adjust and play big, small, fast, slow, fist fight or prom date,” Izzo said. “You can do a lot of different things, and that’s kind of the way I try to approach my guys. We’ve got to be prepared because we’re not just trying to win the league, you’re always trying to go deep into the tournament.
“So if I had to play smash mouth, I learned how to play smash mouth. If I had to play race horse, I think my team can play race horse. I do think my team can’t shoot the three like his team can, and we don’t have an inside player like his, but we have ten guys that are on a mission, and the mission is to get to San Antonio. We’re going to try to make that happen.”
Broome is going to be a load. He’s a below-the-rim player, and free-throw shooting can be a weakness (59.3 percent), but he’s impossible to dislodge from the block once he’s established his position. And he’s developed an arsenal of scoring moves with either hand. Call him the best low-post scorer in the country and few could present a compelling counterargument.
At this point in the season, there are no surprises. Pearl was asked about Michigan State and said he’d watched only three complete game tapes on the Spartans and had yet to come up with a. game plan.
But Pearl did admit to knowing a thing or two about Izzo. When Pearl was coaching at Tennessee in 2010, the Vols lost by a point to the Spartans for a spot in the Final Four.
“We know what they’re going to do,” Pearl says. “One thing about a great coach and a great system, he’s going to do what he’s going to do, and he’s not going to try to trick you. This is what we do. See if you can deal with it.
“We also know they do a great job of guarding the three-point line and run people off the three-point line. They’re not going to try to let us win the battle from three. They’re going to make us make tough twos and try to defend us without fouling us.”
That may be true, but Izzo knows that promise Pearl made to Broome and Cardwell is the reason his team is playing Auburn in the Elite Eight. The Tigers’ offense runs through Broome.
“We’re going to have to do some different things with Broome because he scores it in so many different ways, and we’ve got a couple different things we’d like to do with him,” Izzo said.
