NIT Observations: Auburn 78, South Alabama 67
After an uninspired start in which they trailed by double-digits, the Tigers adjusted their sights and shot their way to the second round.
AUBURN — In the words of Steven Pearl, let’s just be honest.
Auburn basketball wasn’t happy to be playing at home Tuesday night. It would have much rather been playing in Dayton, Ohio — where Texas and NC State were battling it out as two of the last teams in the NCAA Tournament as part of the First Four.
An NIT first round game against an in-state South Alabama team with a lot more natural motivation? That’s not where the Tigers wanted to be, considering the new standard on the Plains is playing in March Madness year in and year out.
And, for the first 15 minutes of a matchup played in front a fourth of its usual home crowd at best, Auburn played like a team that was “not thrilled to be playing in the NIT.”
“That's just being, maybe, a little too honest,” Pearl added.
Auburn trailed by eight points with about five minutes to go in the first half to a KenPom sub-200 South Alabama. After one of just five 3-pointers in 26 attempts before halftime went down for the Tigers, the Jaguars went on a 6-0 run to lead by 11.
South Alabama had hit 10 straight shots, and Auburn was shooting 26.7% from the field. The Tigers’ energy was nowhere to be found, much like their starting center who abruptly opted out of playing in this tournament without giving the team a reason.
If there was any time for Auburn to call it a season, just as KeShawn Murphy did a day earlier, it was then.
But then Tahaad Pettiford got an and-1 to fall, and Auburn paired a defensive stop with an encouraging 2-2 trip to the free-throw line from Sebastian Williams-Adams. Although the Tigers didn’t score after two more stops, they headed to the locker room down by just six — a lead they would erase in the first 1:44 of the second half.
Pearl said he expected his team, making a quick two-day turnaround after a Selection Sunday disappointment, to not play the most inspired basketball. Still, he knew what would change that.
“Once they get out there and they start playing basketball, and they make a few shots, and they start to see some success — then they get over it, and they get competitive again,” Pearl said. “And I thought in the last five minutes (of the first half), you kind of saw that kind of come back as the game went on.
“But I was very honest with them. Like, ‘Listen, you’re on national television. They’re going to be expecting you to come out flat and not excited about playing this game, so show them something.’ I thought it took us a while to get there. But I thought, the last 25 minutes, I thought our guys did a good job of locking in and found a way to win the game.”
Auburn turned an 11-point late first-half deficit into an 11-point victory over South Alabama, flipping the script in a second half that saw an offense go from shooting 25% and 19% before halftime to 60% and 61% after it.
Meanwhile, the visiting Jaguars couldn’t keep their own hot shooting going, cooling off in a big way against the Tigers — who used runs of 6-0, 9-0 and 8-0 to take control the game and then put it away.
“Before the game and during the game, it was just: ‘Let's keep playing, let's keep the flow,’” said Kevin Overton, who hit a career-high seven 3-pointers in the second half alone. “We were missing our big man, so let's just try to fill the spots and keep playing together. The game will open up. Shots will fall.”
They did just that, and now Auburn’s tough season will still have a chance to finish on a more positive note. Auburn will host Seattle in the second round of the NIT either Saturday or Sunday, although a game time won’t be finalized until Wednesday night.
The Tigers avoided the fate of the frustrated high-major taking a one-and-done upset in the NIT, like 2013 Kentucky or 2019 Alabama. They’ll have to work hard — and, probably, play better — in order to keep that up in the second round at home.
But they’re still getting to play basketball. Even though not everyone is going to stay along for the ride, that still counts for something.
“I'm going to just pour into the guys that are here and go hoop,” Pearl said.
Here are four Observations from Auburn’s 78-67 win over South Alabama, along with the Rotation Charts, the Nerd Stats and the Quote of the Night.
This was the ultimate “shooters shoot” game
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