Men vs. Mississippi State - Postgame

[jared52 4,354]

FINAL AU 74 Miss. State 68

Great to win the first round game after losing 6 straight. Stretches of good play and bad play. A different look for AU late, but it worked with KC, KT, Wadell, Lang, and Thompson. That group got AU up 11, then get them back in it when the other group lost that lead away.

How Auburn won its SEC opener: K.C. Ross-Miller 21 points, KT Harrell 19 points, Alex Thompson 16 points. Tigers beat State 74-68.

@AUGoldMine

And it only takes Bruce Pearl a few minutes to jump on SEC Network set and get mic'd up to discuss win, sell his program.

@bmarcello

Alex Thompson 16 pts tonight after scoring a total of 22 pts in 18 reg season SEC gms & made 3 3s after making 4 in 19 GP in reg season

@ScrogginsNoggin

Cinmeon Bowers just kissed Bruce Pearl. No hard feelings that he coach benched him! #SECTournament #Auburn

@LaurenSisler

"This game was for our fans... This game was not for our players or coaches." -- #Auburn's Bruce Pearl on the win over Mississippi State

@WesleySinor

Pearl; How many times do you see in tournament play a random guy step up? Tonight, it was four of them.

...

Pearl: This is a huge step-up game for Alex Thompson. Players continue to keep confidence in Alex, even when he lost confidence in self

...

Pearl proud of Auburn despite late-season struggles. Felt the team never quit, saw those results tonight.

@AUBlog

Chuck Person: "I wouldn't have thought in a million years that Alex Thompson and Devin would out-play Cinmeon Bowers for us."

...

Lots of (justified) talk about Alex's and Devin’s big games, but KC Ross-Miller went for 21 points. Huge night for him.

@JayGTate

Tony Barbee was 0-4 in SEC Tournament games at Auburn, losing by an average of 14.75. Bruce Pearl leads Auburn to first SECT win since 2009.

@JHokanson

via @AUGoldMine

[AURandy56 148]

WAR DAMN EAGLE!! Now, go win this damn tournament.

[jared52 4,354]

Bruce on the postgame was high on KC, so I stand corrected on his performance. I did love having him in the last minute. Just thought he started to force too much with 5 minutes to go.

I really hope Bowers is steaming over his play is able to come out tomorrow night, well rested, and on fire for a good performance. AU will need him to have a chance at all against aTm.

Last side note, watching Bruce on the post game makes me love him as AU's coach even more. He's SO, SO good for AU.

[FoundationEagle 637]

Didn't get to watch much of the game. What's up with these new guys blowing it wide open? Good sign for next year. I haven't had much hope for next year but from what I hear of this game, we should have hope indeed.....glad KT finally gets an SEC tourney win before his exit. He deserves it more than anyone. Anybody have insight on the new impact players?

[au75 75]

Great win team.......WDE

[Tigermike 3,007]

A fun game to watch, WAR EAGLE!!! It's great to win one in the SEC Tourney.

[weagl1 1,781]

Finally got it together and hit the critical free throws at the end. Good job!

[around4ever 4,139]

Do you realize this was our first SEC Tourney win since 2009? Great job by our Tigers and a good indicator of the future. WDE!!!!

[AuburnNTexas 7,127]

Thompson got points hitting the three and cutting down the lane and rebounding and putting the ball back. He and Waddell just let some people know that they want to play next year. If you look at Bruce's old Tenn teams he always had a walk on that made some type of impact on his team. The tradition lives.

[jgarrett 0]

I think the light has started to come on for Lang and Thompson. An offseason and the experience in the system i believe those two guus could be big time contributors the next few years. If Canty is what we hope at point and we can find a reliable 2guard we could be competitive next season, IMO.

[around4ever 4,139]

Thompson got points hitting the three and cutting down the lane and rebounding and putting the ball back. He and Waddell just let some people know that they want to play next year. If you look at Bruce's old Tenn teams he always had a walk on that made some type of impact on his team. The tradition lives.

Good points. Thompson and Waddell both played their best game of the season. Coach Pearl is a genius. He put them in and told them to earn their future. They did exactly that. Ross-Miller had a great game also. I feel good about this win and the future of this team. Let's see what they can do tomorrow.

[InfernoOrangeSS 321]

War Eagle!!!

Feels good to get a tourney win! Thank you Coach Pearl and all the players.

[autigeremt 6,569]

This is just a great feeling all together! Way to go, AU!

[alexava 6,973]

most of this without bowers or mason. fun to watch. love to steal a couple more.

[AUB1974 2]

Gives a sense of hope and excitement for next year. Everyone needed this win.

[AuburnNTexas 7,127]

Next game against A&M is going to be really tough. I can't wait to see how they do after this big win.

[NoALtiger 3,849]

I'm just so happy we actually get to move to the next bracket. Baby steps. Ha!

[RunInRed 16,360]

OP updated with quotes, photos and more ...

[RunInRed 16,360]

Highlight Video added to OP ...

[Tigermadness 0]

Outstanding, great team win. Got to love it

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

Every game now becomes icing I think. We have good signs for the future of AU Bball. Let's see how they do tomorrow. Hope we're on the brink of history! Who says we can't shock the world?

[FHeal 4]

What a team effort....with no reason except a desire to play

[AU64 10,122]

Nice ending to the game and a good win.

AU managed to keep the ball in the hands of KCR-M during "foul time"...best FT shooter who came through when needed.

Don't recall that Reed ever got on the floor and no question the team played better with CB on the bench.

So, who will start against TAMU?

[PUB78 1,354]

This win shows progress and even more optimism for the future under BP!

[Tiger 8,817]

I say we go small ball the whole time vs A&M today and make their bigs chase our guys around. It won't matter if our bigs play today or not, A&M is going to pound it inside and get buckets regardless because our bigs just aren't big enough. Just my opinion.