If the clutch gene is real, it looks like Auburn's got it
A season after going winless in games decided by 5 points or less, the Tigers are currently 6-0 — with five of those wins being Quad 1.
(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)
AUBURN — Some teams go years without getting a top-10 win. Some teams go years without grabbing victories via last-second shots that fans will remember forever.
Auburn has now done both of those things, at the same time, twice this season.
The first happened at the Maui Invitational in November, when Auburn rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat Iowa State on a late tip-in by Johni Broome just before the buzzer. Iowa State was No. 5 in the country at the time and is currently No. 3.
The second happened Saturday night in Neville Arena, when Auburn overcame a 31% shooting performance to beat Tennessee on a second-chance 3-pointer by Miles Kelly with 30 seconds left. Tennessee was No. 6 in the AP poll and is now No. 8.
But these are far from the only late-game heroics the Tigers have pulled off this season.
Auburn’s second game of the season featured a rally from nine points down with 15 minutes to play to beat Houston by five. Houston was No. 4 in the country at the time and is currently No. 6.
Auburn’s first SEC road game of the season saw the Tigers hold off a hot-shooting Texas team in the final minutes to win by five.
A few days later, Auburn rallied from a second-half deficit after Broome went down with an ankle injury to beat South Carolina away from home by three.
And, a week after that — and a week before the Tennessee heist — a Broome-less Auburn team held on late to beat Georgia on the road by two.
That’s now six Auburn wins this season by five points or less, which is the most commonly-used definition of a “close game” in basketball. The NBA statistically defines it as “clutch time.” Team Rankings has it as their barometer for close-game winning percentage in college basketball.
Auburn is one of just 24 teams among the 364 in Division I basketball that have not lost a single close game this season. (The Tigers, who are the only team in the country that has lost just once, fell by six to Duke — their closest competition to the top spot — in December.) It sports a 6-0 close-game record.
Why is that significant? Last season, when Auburn had an analytical darling squad that only seemed to win lopsided games, the Tigers went 0-3 in games decided by five points or less. (It also lost two more games by six points.)