Defense and rebounding could be Auburn's ticket to the Final Four
The Tigers are at their best when they're stringing together stops. They need to cling to that as they face Michigan State on Sunday.
ATLANTA — Auburn had missed 35 of its first 51 shots from the field against Michigan. The Tigers had almost as many turnovers (14) as made baskets (16). Their execution of play calls from the sidelines was sloppy at best.
They were down by multiple scores in the Sweet 16, and they hadn’t performed this poorly on offense in a long time.
And yet, during the media timeout, the players were arguing about defense.
Forget how many bricked shots had piled up. Forget how many promising possessions ended in unforced giveaways. Forget the busted offensive assignments.
Auburn was only talking about the importance of defensive execution.
“Just defensive stops,” Tahaad Pettiford said Saturday. “We weren't playing well defensively early in the game, but we realized that we needed stops to get the win.”
Yes, even the freshman point guard — who electrified the college basketball world with his shot-making in Auburn’s 78-65 win over Michigan — understood the victory was earned on the other end of the floor.
“The biggest thing was holding Michigan to 65 points,” Pearl said. “That's why we won the game. We were able to turn them over and hurt them on the offensive glass.”
It’s a simple fact of basketball, but it can sometimes get lost on viewers: Runs require defensive stops. It’s never just about making shots. The other team gets a chance to do the very same thing after every single one of your possessions.
“You can win games with your defense,” Dylan Cardwell said. “Offense, it's cool to have that. We need it. But, at the end of the day, we didn't get three stops in a row until the 15-minute mark of the second half. We knew that, to go on a run, we have to get defensive stops first.”
Even in a game when its offense had been as disjointed as it ever had all season, Auburn never let that dictate its focus.
“We know the type of team that we have,” Denver Jones said. “We know that we have a lot of weapons on offense. I feel like when we're just worrying about offense, the defensive end is gonna get us beat — especially here in March.”
It’s one of Pearl’s biggest go-to phrases: Defense and rebounding win championships.
That’s never been more true than it is on this Championship Sunday in the South regional of the NCAA Tournament. Auburn is one win away from getting back to the Final Four for only the second time in school history.
Standing in the way is a Michigan State team that might understand the value of defense and rebounding more than anyone else left in March Madness.
Under legendary head coach Tom Izzo, Michigan State has won 30 games this season. The Spartans were preseason No. 35 on KenPom, but after a surprising and relentless climb, they now sit at No. 7. Two dominant winning streaks in the regular season propelled them to an outright Big Ten title — by a commanding three-game margin.
Michigan State, which has never lost to an SEC team in the NCAA Tournament under Izzo, has a top-five defense on KenPom. The Spartans are No. 2 nationally in 3-point defense at 28%. They have a top-10 defensive rebounding percentage (24.6%) and a top-15 defensive effective field goal percentage (46.1%).
Despite not forcing many turnovers as a team, Michigan State grinds opponents into dust with how it defends. It’s a Tennessee-like defense, paired with the multi-pronged offense of an Ole Miss — which it beat in a dramatic, 73-70 Sweet 16 game Friday.
Because of that defensive pedigree, it might be easy to think that the main focus for Auburn against Michigan State will be its offensive execution.
But that’s not the case.