Can Auburn end a Cinderella story inside the home of 'Hoosiers'?

In the NIT semifinals at Hinkle Fieldhouse, Auburn will have to play hard for all 40 minutes to spoil Illinois State's underdog run.

(Auburn MBB/Instagram)

INDIANAPOLIS — At Hinkle Fieldhouse, it’s easy to get lost in all the history.

Everywhere you turn inside the nearly 100-year-old arena, there’s something to remind you that you’re inside a basketball cathedral. It’s an old-school, red-brick hangar of a building. Many of the seats are metal bleachers. There’s a stained glass memorial to the place’s namesake. The buzzer sounds like an ancient train horn.

And then there’s the Hoosiers of it all. The climactic scenes of the 1986 classic were filmed inside Hinkle — and it’s where the 1954 Milan High School basketball team, the real-life inspiration for the Hickory Huskers, won the Indiana state title.

In Hoosiers, Hickory was portrayed as the ultimate Cinderella story that took everyone by surprise. But history shows us that the real Milan team would have actually been favored to take home the title because of what it had done in the previous season.

On Thursday, inside a venue so precious to what is perhaps the most basketball-crazed state in the country, Auburn will face Illinois State in the NIT semifinals.

Illinois State is the Hickory High in this scenario: A literally undersized underdog that has knocked off bigger programs to get to this point.

Auburn, meanwhile, is more like the real Milan High: A recently successful program that is the favorite to take home the trophy now.

“That's all we've been talking about recently: Just coming in here, handling business, and finishing the season off right,” wing Elyjah Freeman said after practice in Hinkle on Wednesday.

“Last year, you know, making it to the Final Four, being on that stage, making it to the gym where we wanted to be at and not being able to finish that job… that's something that's on the back of my mind this year,” Auburn point guard Tahaad Pettiford added. “We're in the final four here, and my goal is to win it all.”

This week, the difference between the capital letter NCAA Final Four and the lowercase final four of the NIT is a handful of miles between downtown Indianapolis and Butler University’s campus.

Auburn has been very clear from the beginning of this NIT journey that the goal is to not be in this tournament. The Tigers’ ultimate dream was to get back to college basketball’s biggest stage for a second year in a row. But, even though that was going to be a much longer shot, having any chance to play its way into it was the standard.

“An opportunity to compete on ESPN and in Hinkle Fieldhouse — and, potentially, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, if you are able to win that game — 99% of basketball players would die for that opportunity,” Auburn head coach Steven Pearl said Wednesday. “But it’s not our goal. Our goal is, obviously, to make the NCAA Tournament.”

But Auburn’s trip from accepting an NIT bid in the wake of a Selection Sunday shutout to a game in the epicenter of college basketball this week has been the ultimate example of making lemonade out of lemons.

Auburn rattled off three straight wins at home against mid-major opponents in order to punch its ticket to Indianapolis. It wasn’t easy, as evidenced by the very first one.

“Obviously, the first half against South Alabama people may have been looking and being, like, ‘What the hell are they doing?’” Pearl said. “Our guys did a great job of just locking in at that point. I thought we’ve played with purpose. They’ve found some joy in playing the game, which has been really, really cool to see.

“They’re locked in and engaged. We’re excited to be here, and we’re excited to be able to compete against another really good team in Illinois State on Thursday.”

The semifinal against Illinois State shouldn’t be easy, either.