MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The buzzword heading into Auburn's Final Four game against Virginia: pace.
It's been a popular phrase all tournament, especially for the Tigers and their up-and-down style of play. Auburn talked about it a lot ahead of New Mexico State's quickness. The Tigers dwelled on it again when they felt it would give them an advantage against the Jayhawks. Against North Carolina, many questioned whether it was possible to beat North Carolina at its own game — playing with tempo.
Pace conversation has reached a fever pitch this week, and it makes sense.
As Auburn and Virginia prepare to face off, it'll be the ultimate clash of styles.
Bruce Pearl doesn't expect those styles to be affected much.
"As far as tempo is concerned, I just don't think we can make Virginia play faster than they play," Pearl said.
It's almost impossible to play slower offensively than Virginia does. The Cavaliers have the second-slowest offensive tempo in all of college basketball. Only Siena had a slower offensive tempo than Virginia this season. The average Cavaliers' possession takes 20.9 seconds.
Defensively, it isn't much different for Virginia. The Cavaliers slug opponents into long possessions, the ninth-slowest in the the country. Auburn has had some experience against teams of similar defensive tempo, as Florida ranks just slower than Virginia.
Because the Cavaliers stick to their identity, Pearl expects it to be tough to force them to adjust. He plans to get creative with how Auburn tries to force Virginia into some increased tempo. Still, Pearl doesn't plan to get a ton of results when it comes to getting Virginia out of its comfort zone.
"Because the rule changes, trapping has virtually been taken out of the game. Full court, 94-foot defense is a thing of the past. So we've got to be able to try to make them go faster in the half-court, and when you make that offense go faster, you extend, you break down, and you have whatever you want," Pearl said. "So I don't think we're going to be able to change the tempo of this game. We're most likely, if we're going to win, beat Virginia at their own pace."
Compare Virginia's tempo numbers with Auburn and it's (mostly) a stark contrast.
Auburn has the 69th-fastest adjusted offensive tempo in college basketball, per KenPom. That's by far the fastest offense of the remaining Final Four teams. Virginia, Michigan State and Texas Tech don't rank inside the top 125 nationally in that category.
One misunderstanding about Auburn, however, is that it's adjusted offensive-defensive tempo is as fast as anyone in college basketball. That's not accurate. While the Tigers move fast on offense, they like to drag their opponents into long possessions. Auburn ranks 333rd in the country — just 12 spots ahead of Virginia — in adjusted defensive tempo. The Tigers hold their opponents to average possessions of 18.8 seconds, so they want their opponents working for most of the shot clock, as well.
When Virginia coach Tony Bennett thinks of Auburn, though, he's thinking about the speed and quickness of the guards — and how dangerous they can be when they turn their defense into offense the other direction.
"The quickness of Auburn is maybe the best we've seen, so our ability, and you always need a guy who can hopefully keep these guys in front and work the ball," Bennett said.