Auburn WBB eliminated from NCAA Tournament

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

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Auburn WBB eliminated from NCAA Tournament after sloppy game vs. Arizona

Updated: Mar. 21, 2024, 9:29 p.m.|Published: Mar. 21, 2024, 8:33 p.m.

5–6 minutes

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STORRS, CT - MARCH 21 - Auburn's Mar'shaun Bostic (12) during the game between the (11) Auburn Tigers and the (11) Arizona Wildcats at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT on Thursday, March 21, 2024. Photo by David Gray/Auburn TigersDavid Gray/Auburn Tigers

Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris knew her team would have its hands full against Arizona in the play-in round of the NCAA Tournament in Storrs, Connecticut Thursday night.

She knew that because Arizona reminded her of Auburn. And Auburn’s goal every night is to make things impossible-feeling with its suffocating defense.

“They’re almost like a twin team to us. They play pretty much the same style. They like to press a lot. They’ll throw some junk at you. They like to get up the floor and score quick,” Harris said of Arizona Tuesday. “Just looking at them, it’s eerie because we play the same way.”

And just as Harris expected, the Wildcats gave the Tigers a taste of their own medicine as Arizona applied the pressure early — poking at every Auburn pass and contesting every shot Auburn took.

Unfortunately for Auburn, the Tigers didn’t respond well to the challenge as they committed 23 turnovers in season-ending, 69-59 loss to the Wildcats.

By the end of the first half, Auburn had already coughed up the basketball 17 times, allowing Arizona to score 14 of its 27 first-half points off turnovers. By the game’s end, Arizona’s points off turnovers had swelled to 23.

“I thought they sped us up,” Harris said of Arizona’s defense. “We had a lot of unforced turnovers... We were coming off one dribble, trying to throw it to the roll on the first side and that wasn’t working. We wanted to flip the floor and then try to attack the hedge, but I just think they got us sped up and caused some unforced turnovers.

“And some of them were forced, they were up in the passing lane. They were up in us.”

While forcing turnovers was the payoff of Arizona’s aggressiveness, the approach did come at an expense as the Wildcats found themselves in foul trouble early.

By halftime, a pair of Arizona players in Bre Cunningham and Isis Beh had both committed three fouls — something that’s notable for any team, but certainly a team like Arizona, which entered the night with just eight players available players.

With Arizona’s foul trouble and short bench in the back of their minds, the Tigers started attacking the Wildcats by driving right at them in hopes of hearing more whistles blow. And they quickly did as Arizona’s Beh and Esmery Martinez both found themselves benched with four fouls apiece early in the second half.

But when all was said and done, Cunningham was the only Arizona player to foul out.

Meanwhile, on the opposing sideline, Auburn saw two players foul out down the stretch — sophomore Sydney Shaw and fifth-year senior Honesty Scott-Grayson.

Scott-Grayson, Auburn’s leading scorer on the season, fouled out in a critical part of the game with the Tigers trailing by seven with 2:10 minutes to play. Leading up to her fifth foul, Scott-Grayson was starting to find her groove having scored six of her 13 points in the fourth quarter.

From that point forward, with Auburn’s veteran leader and sparkplug on the bench, the Tigers were never able to tighten the gap any closer than five points.

Down the stretch, the Wildcats went on to tally five unanswered points to extend the lead out to 10 points — the same 10 point lead Arizona would go on to win with.

With the loss, Auburn ends the season 20-12 and can boast making the tournament for the first time in five years.

And Auburn freshman Yakiya Milton, who put together a career night in her first NCAA Tournament appearance, is confident the Tigers won’t be going on another postseason drought quite like that.

“As my first time in the tournament, I know it’s not going to be my last,” said Milton, who tallied eight points, three rebounds and three blocks in the loss. “I’m just ready to come back. I’ve got a chip on my shoulder now.”

Meanwhile, Arizona (18-15) will advance into the first round of the NCAA Tournament, where they’ll meet sixth-seeded Syracuse Saturday.

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[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,669]

That’s the one qualm many had about the roster - we really only had two ball handlers we felt comfortable with…especially in terms of facilitating for others 

[NCAubs 377]

Step in the right direction.  Work to be done.