Basketball Stuff

[aubiefifty 16,807]

247sports.com

Auburn knocks off Mississippi State in physical affair to advance to title game

Jason Caldwell

~3 minutes

All summer long, the Auburn Tigers had to shoot free throws to validate games in order to work on pressure situations. That paid off on Saturday in a physical game against Mississippi State as coach Bruce Pearl’s team made 13-16 from the charity stripe in the second half to beat the Bulldogs 73-66. It improved Auburn to 26-7 overall with its first win by single digits this season. 

In a game that was nip-and-tuck the entire way, Auburn’s veterans made the plays down the stretch as Dylan Cardwell and Jaylin Williams both came up with huge blocks and baskets to break open a close game.

On a day when Auburn was beaten and bruised by a physical Mississippi State team, once again the balance and depth of the Tigers came up huge. Chad Baker-Mazara led five players in double figures for the Tigers with 14 points while Williams and Denver Jones added 13 each. Johni Broome and Tre Donaldson scored 10 each on a day when Auburn made 25-50 from the floor, but survived 15 turnovers.

An unsung hero for the Tigers was point guard Aden Holloway. He didn’t score on Saturday, but had six big assists and just two turnovers in the victory. Auburn also got five points and three rebounds from Chris Moore off the bench in just 17 minutes.

Auburn had to survive a sluggish start early, trailing 9-2 after five minutes. With Donaldson leading the way, the Tigers battled back and went into the break tied at 31 despite allowing 12 offensive rebounds to the Bulldogs in the first 20 minutes. Even though the game never settled into a rhythm, Auburn was able to make the plays down the stretch to get the victory.

Leading 55-47 following a Moore layup with under 8 minutes remaining, Auburn looked like they were in control, but Mississippi State wouldn't back down. Cutting the lead to one with five minutes left, Mississippi State had the momentum but a quick timeout by Pearl proved to be just the right thing for the Tigers. A quick Cardwell dunk put Auburn back in front by three and the next trip down the court, he got a finger on a perimeter jumper by Mississippi State and leaked out for a dunk to make it a five-point advantage.

Mississippi State would get no closer than three the rest the way as Auburn made its free throws to secure the win.

Auburn advances to the final of the SEC Tournament Championship for the first time since 2019. The Tigers will face the winner of Florida-Texas A&M on Sunday at noon on ESPN.

[aubiefifty 16,807]

Recap: Auburn starts slow but takes care of business to advance to SEC Championship

Brian Hauch

March 16, 2024 3:00 pm CT

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Early afternoon starts haven’t been kind to the Auburn Tigers this season. That trend continued on Saturday in Nashville.

Bruce Pearl’s team played some of the worst basketball it had over the past month in the first five minutes of the SEC Semifinal against Mississippi State. The good news for the Tigers? They outscored Chris Jan’s bulldogs 69-54 over the final 35 minutes of a 73-66 win.

Mississippi State’s defense was able to frustrate Auburn’s high-ranked offense for most of the afternoon, but the Tigers did just enough to get by. While star Johni Broome wasn’t his usual dominant self after dealing with foul trouble in the first half, he still managed 10 points on the afternoon.

Front-court mate Jaylin Williams took over the “do-it-all” forward role with Broome playing only 24 minutes. The winningest player in Auburn history ended his afternoon with 13 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks.

Guards Denver Jones and Chad Baker-Mazara continued their hot stretch of play, carrying things on the offensive end at times Saturday with timely jump shots and drives to the rim.

The duo finished their afternoon with 27 combined points on an efficient 59/18 from the field. Baker-Mazara finished with a team-high 16.

As for Mississippi State, the Bulldogs ran off the backs of stars Josh Hubbard and Tolu Smith once again. The former struggled for most of the afternoon before getting hot in the middle of the second half, pushing the margin to as close as one possession at points.

The big man Smith was the only player to secure a double-double in the game. He finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds on a 3/8 shooting day.

Auburn showed it can win a gritty, close, tournament game on a nuetral floor with this showing. The Tigers are becoming more and more likely to make a deep run into March.

Bruce Pearl’s team will have a chance to win the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2019 on Sunday against either Florida or Texas A&M.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on  X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Brian on Twitter @TheRealBHauch

BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY's NCAA tournament bracket contest, create a pool and invite your friends!

 

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collegefootballnews.com

Florida vs Auburn Prediction, Game Preview: SEC Tournament Championship

Pete Fiutak

3–4 minutes

SEC Tournament Championship: Auburn (26-7) vs Florida (24-10) prediction and college basketball game preview.

Florida vs Auburn Basketball

Date: Sunday, March 17
Game Time: 1:00 pm ET
Venue: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Auburn (26-7), Florida (24-10)

Florida vs Auburn Preview

Why Florida Will Win

Who needs defense?

The Gators play like they want to get the other team’s score out of the way so they can go score more.

The sixth-best scoring attack in America got past a tough first half against Texas A&M by hitting threes and more threes in a 95-90 win.

That makes it 12 games in a row with 75 points or more, and now they’ll have no problem trying to keep up if Auburn tries to get its own offense going on the move.

The Tigers win on their iron grip defense, but they love to get on the move and get the threes going, too. They’re just as happy to win 95-75 as they are winning 73-66 like they did in the slugfest with Mississippi State to get here.

Oddly enough, the Gators won the first meeting 81-65 because their own defense stepped up, especially against the three. The Tigers couldn’t get going from the outside, Florida was fantastic on the offensive boards, and that has to be the formula in this.

The Gators will outrebound the Tigers, and they have to hope to keep the threes from dropping because …

Why Auburn Will Win

Again, defense tends to be optional - for the most part - with the Gators.

In that first game, Auburn had its third-worst day of the year from three, connecting on just 3-of-17 - that’s almost certainly not going to happen again. The team is now 25-3 when making 22% or more from three. Florida held just five teams all season to under that.

Now the energy level has to be there. What did we learn on Saturday from North Carolina, Houston, and San Diego State?

When the other side is cranking up the tempo and flying all over the court, that’s the difference with all attention and focus coming on what’s happening a few hours after this game.

Auburn is a 2 seed. Not saying it doesn’t want to win the SEC Championship and isn’t going to try, but this is a high-energy team that wasn’t quite able to bust out like it normally does in the win over Mississippi State. The is a very, very deep Tiger team, and it has to be fresh throughout, but …

Florida vs Auburn: Who Will Win

Can Auburn bring the want-to on the boards?

Florida will keep attacking the glass - especially on the offensive end - and it’s going to keep on firing no matter what the amazing Auburn defense does.

Baylor, Alabama, and Florida. Those three came up with 13 offensive rebounds or more in wins over Auburn - and Mississippi State cranked out 17 on Saturday. If AU doesn’t hang on the glass, the Gators win.

Florida will get the offensive boards and the big points to hang around all game long, but Auburn will be okay from three, it’ll clamp down just enough at times to hold serve, and it’ll crank up the energy in the second half to win a fun back-and-forth fight.

Florida vs Auburn Prediction, Line

Auburn 84, Florida 78
Line: Auburn -5.5, o/u: 155.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2.5

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Just now, aubiefifty said:

 

I have an autographed card of KD's.............grins

[saminbama 740]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

Cutting the lead to one with five minutes left, Mississippi State had the momentum but a quick timeout by Pearl proved to be just the right thing for the Tigers. A quick Cardwell dunk put Auburn back in front by three and the next trip down the court, he got a finger on a perimeter jumper by Mississippi State and leaked out for a dunk to make it a five-point advantage.

That timeout and substitutions made by CBP was MONEY.  That turned it around.  We needed to win a close game.  I love Caldwell and we will miss him tremendously next year.

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Auburn solidly favored over Florida in SEC Tournament Finals, per BPI

Adam Dubbin

Sun, March 17, 2024 at 8:33 AM CDT·1 min read

Florida basketball has battled through three rounds of the Southeastern Conference Tournament to earn a shot at the postseason title against the Auburn Tigers on Sunday.

Using the Basketball Power Index, ESPN is giving the Tigers a 78.9% win probability and a projection to come out victorious by 9.2 points over the Gators. The matchup quality earned an 84.9-point grade, making it the second-highest-rated game of the four slated for Sunday.

“BPI is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward,” the site reads. “BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is… Game predictions account for opponent strength, pace of play, site, travel distance, day’s rest and altitude, and are used to simulate the season 10,000 times to produce season projections.”

Florida is ranked No. 26 in the NET rankings, while Auburn is No. 5, which makes it a Quadrant 1 game for both teams.

Tipoff between the Gators and Tigers is slated for 1 p.m. ET on Saturday and can be watched on ESPN.

Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

Story originally appeared on Gators Wire

[Mikey 16,623]

Anybody else watch NC State whup North Carolina by 10? It was a fun game. State has a fat boy at center who can really play! He has a soft touch on his shot and makes great passes for assists. He doesn't get up and down the court quickly but that doesn't matter much with their style of play. I never saw how tall he is, so can't accurately tell his weight. If he were, say, 6' 1" he'd weigh around 280. If he's 6'7"  I'd put him at 330 at least!

Edited March 17 by Mikey

[WillMunny 1,378]

26 minutes ago, Mikey said:

Anybody else watch NC State whup North Carolina by 10? It was a fun game. State has a fat boy at center who can really play! He has a soft touch on his shot and makes great passes for assists. He doesn't get up and down the court quickly but that doesn't matter much with their style of play. I never saw how tall he is, so can't accurately tell his weight. If he were, say, 6' 1" he'd weigh around 280. If he's 6'7"  I'd put him at 330 at least!

Kid was fun to watch. Reminded me of William "The Refrigerator" Perry. I'll be tuning in to watch all their games in the tournament.

[aubiefifty 16,807]

I am amazed at how much Broome has improved from last year. some of us do not give bruce and company enough credit.........in my humble opinion.

[aubiefifty 16,807]

al.com

It’s Selection Sunday. Where is Auburn projected for March Madness?

Updated: Mar. 17, 2024, 9:51 a.m.|Published: Mar. 17, 2024, 8:19 a.m.

~3 minutes

Auburn celebrates their win over Mississippi State and advancing to the SEC tournament final

It, at last, is Selection Sunday. At 5 p.m. CT, the Selection Committee will reveal the bracket for this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Auburn does still have one more game to play first. It will play Florida at noon Sunday in the SEC championship game. In the past, some championship games on Selection Sunday have not impacted the bracket much because of its proximity to the Selection Show. But it does appear based on many projections that Auburn might hold a chance to move up to a No. 3 seed with a win.

Though most bracketologists still believe Auburn is a No. 4 seed as of Sunday morning.

As of a Sunday morning update, the Bracket Matrix, a compilation of more than 100 bracket projections to create a composite NCAA Tournament field, Auburn is a No. 4 seed and the third No. 4 seed with an average seed projection of 3.80. Kentucky and Kansas are the two No. 4 seeds ahead of Auburn.

Alabama is the fourth No. 4 seed, not far behind Auburn.

Of the 102 brackets used in the Matrix as of Sunday morning, one projection has Auburn has a No. 2 seed and one has Auburn as a No. 5 seed.

The majority of the 102 brackets have Auburn has a No. 4 seed, but several of the bigger name websites have moved Auburn up to the No. 3 seed line.

Below are some of the more notable bracketology picks for Auburn, including location predictions. This will be updated as more predictions are released Sunday morning.

ESPN: No. 3 Auburn vs No. 14 Akron (Pittsburgh)

USA Today: No. 3 Auburn vs. No. 14 Morehead State (Memphis)

On3: No. 3 Auburn vs No. 14 Colgate (Pittsburgh)

247Sports: No. 4 Auburn vs No. 13 Oakland (no location listed)

CBS: No. 4 Auburn vs No. 13 Vermont (Spokane)

The Athletic: No. 4 Auburn vs No. 13 Samford (Spokane)

Matt Cohen covers sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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