ATLANTA (EETV) – Auburn Men’s Basketball was back in Atlanta Sunday to take on the Michigan State Spartans in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers, spurred by a standout performance by Johni Broome, took down the Spartans 70-64 to advance to the Final Four for the second time in program history.
As soon as the game tipped off, Johni Broome made it clear what his intentions were for the evening. Broome scored the first six points for Auburn, giving the Tigers an early six to three lead following a made three by Michigan State’s Jaxon Kohler.
From that point the game slowed down to a slugfest, with both offenses unable to find much success. The Auburn defense kept the same intensity it showed down the stretch vs Michigan, stalling the Spartan guards in their tracks on drive after drive.
As the Auburn defense continued to lock down, the offensive attack shifted into gear. Miles Kelly, Chaney Johnson, Tahaad Pettiford, and Johni Broome combined to lead the Tigers on a 17-0 run over the next five minutes of game time, stretching the game from a tie at eight to a 23-8 lead.
However, Michigan State fought back for the remainder of the first half, chipping away at the Auburn lead repeatedly and cutting it to 11 by halftime. As the teams entered their locker rooms, the stat sheet was all coming up Broome. The Auburn big man led all players with 17 points and 11 rebounds, a crucial part of the Tigers’ 33-24 halftime lead.
The second half opened with a bang, with Michigan State’s Szymon Zapala exchanging dunks with Denver Jones. The game continued its hot pace into the under 16 media timeout, at which point Auburn held a 40-32 lead.
From then, the two defenses settled back in, and the game resumed its previous slogging pace. The gap would stabilize at around ten points for much of the second half, until a hard fall by Auburn star Johni Broome at the 10:37 mark had every member of the Auburn faithful holding their breath. Broome remained down behind the play for a few seconds before it was blown dead, at which point he would walk into the locker room.
In Broome’s absence, all semblance of offense disappeared from the game. Chaney Johnson and Dylan Cardwell were enough to stop the Michigan State attack in its tracks, but the Auburn offense couldn’t get anything going with Broome off the court.
Finally, after nearly two minutes of game time, Chaney Johnson broke through with a layup to get Auburn back on the scoreboard. Michigan State tried to keep pace by drawing fouls and making free throws, which worked fairly well for the Spartans until Chad Baker-Mazara drilled a three for Auburn to extend the Tigers’ lead back to 11, 57-46.
The gap would hover around the ten point mark for the next four minutes of game time until Michigan State attempted one last comeback in the final minutes. The Spartans got hot from three late, drilling four long-range shots in the final 2:16, three of which came from Jaden Akins.
However, the comeback attempt would come up short thanks to solid free throw shooting from Auburn, who would walk away with a 70-64 victory and the NCAA South Region Championship.
The star of the night for Auburn was, once again, National Player of the Year contender Johni Broome. The Auburn big man finished the night with 25 points and 14 rebounds on 10-13 shooting, including two threes.
One of those threes came after Broome had re-entered the game from his injury, and the shot sent the Auburn-leaning State Farm Arena into pandemonium. Broome spent five minutes of game time in the locker room before returning at the 5:29 mark with a heavily wrapped right elbow, something that he was asked about following the game.
“The Doc said nothing's wrong, you're good,” Broome said. “Nothing serious. So at that moment, I just wanted to help my teammates.”
The victory also sent the Tigers to their second NCAA Final Four in program history, and their first since 2019, something that was at the forefront of Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl’s mind following the game.
“I guess the first thought is there are four teams in the country that are left, and Auburn is one of them,” Coach Pearl said. “So we couldn't be happier.”
Auburn will take on the Florida Gators next, a team that delivered the Tigers their first loss in Neville Arena this season. The game will take place on Saturday April 5 at 5:09 p.m. in San Antonio, Texas. Should Auburn win, the Tigers will find themselves in the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship for the first time in program history.
