Observations: Auburn 83, Iowa State 81
Just 16 days after their Houston heist, the Tigers managed to one-up that historic comeback in every possible way on Monday in Maui.
(Brian Spurlock/Kemper Sports LIVE)
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Welcome to the Maui Invitational, where a 2,400-seat gymnasium can sound like the loudest arena on the planet — and a November non-conference game can feel like the Final Four.
Auburn basketball belongs at both.
The proof was there well before Johni Broome created a sonic boom of sound that could have traveled across the Pacific Ocean with his game-winning tip-in on a missed shot from Denver Jones on Monday.
“Coach wanted a simple high ball screen with me and Denver,” Broome said after Auburn’s 83-81 win over Iowa State. “Denver drove, and we teach it every day in practice — the worst thing to do is give them the room. Me and Denver down there, we're two animals.
“He got on a run, and I let God do the rest.”
Auburn had already come back from nine points down to win away from home against a top-five team and one of the very best defenses in the sport. The Tigers already had their blockbuster early-season victory.
So they made it twice as hard 16 days later.
Auburn was down by 18 to Iowa State late in the first half. The face of Chad Baker-Mazara said it all as he hobbled across the floor at the Lahaina Civic Center and into the halftime locker room. Baker-Mazara was in tremendous pain, and so was Auburn.
“That was a really good Iowa State team,” head coach Bruce Pearl said. “To put 49 on us in the first half — we didn't play very well, but they played great. The guys did a good job at halftime, kind of getting after each other and not quitting.”
Yes, that comeback began at halftime, when Baker-Mazara’s face went from emotionally drained to confidently reinvigorated. Just before the second half started, he tested the right knee that he had knocked with an opponent, causing him to miss the final 9:21 of the first half.
Baker-Mazara nodded at his teammates and told assistant coach Steven Pearl he was good to go. He then scored 16 second-half points — including a 3-4 mark from beyond the arc — to help lead Auburn to a stunning comeback victory.
“I always say my mama raised a warrior,” Baker-Mazara said. “If I'm not dead, I'm going out there on the court.”
Broome started cramping after his game-winner. Baker-Mazara started feeling the lingering pain of knocking knees after the adrenaline faded. With arms wrapped around shoulders, they helped each other exit the postgame press conference.
How fitting.
“I thought one thing I'm very proud of with these guys is they trust each other,” Pearl said. “They each took turns stepping up. And that there is as good a win as we're going to see — and as good a game.”
The Tigers started this month with zero non-conference victories against top-five teams all-time. They now have two, and they became the first team since 1989-90 Kansas to start the season 5-0 with a pair of those huge wins.
The only other ones that have done that? 1973-74 UCLA and 1954-55 Kentucky.
Again, Auburn basketball belongs. And it’s going to work to keep it that way, as it plays North Carolina — another blue-blood and another team that made a massive comeback in Maui on Monday — in the semifinals Tuesday.
“To this point, we've made history,” Pearl said. “But we're not celebrating.”
Here are four big Observations — which include the Rotation Charts — along with Nerd Stats and the Quote of the Night from Auburn’s win over Iowa State here in Maui.