One thing about this year's Auburn basketball team is it can never be counted out of a game until the buzzer hits 0:00.
After trailing by as much as 18 against No. 5 Iowa State, the Tigers climbed all the way back and used a game-winning tip-in from Johni Broome with 1.2 seconds left to defeat the Cyclones 83-81 to advance to the second round of the Maui Invitational.
This comes just two weeks after the Tigers came back from down nine on the road against Houston.
"One thing I'm very proud of for these guys is they trust each other," Bruce Pearl said postgame. "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. Proud of my team and our coaching staff."
So how does this keep happening? How does Auburn keep finding a way to come back and win these games against some of the best teams in the country?
Here's a deeper look:
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Before we discuss the comeback, let's talk about why Auburn needed to storm back in the first place.
Iowa State, like Houston, is great defensively, but they went about their defense in a different way than the Cougars did, and it really bothered the Tigers early on.
"That was a really good Iowa State team," Pearl said "To put 49 on us in the first half -- we didn't play very well, but they played great."
Houston defended Auburn by sending two to the ball and used its other three defenders as free safeties. Essentially, Houston's defense against Auburn was a massive scramble drill.
Auburn beat that by making quick passes and finding Johni Broome down low who had a size advantage against the Cougars.
None of that was possible against Iowa State.
From the beginning of the game, the Cyclones' plan was clear: deny Broome.
Iowa State was pushing Broome near the corner and was making sure he saw multiple bodies.
Auburn still tried to get the ball to its best player but it just wasn't able to effectively early on, and often, like the clip above, it led to transition chances for the Cyclones.
This was a major problem for Auburn in the first half.
The double-big lineup was great in the second half, but the negative spacing caused by playing two centers together allowed Iowa State to trap the corner because it only needed one guy defending the paint.
14 of Iowa State's 21 fast break points came in the first half and plays like this is how that happened.
Another factor is that Iowa State was simply hitting shots.
Coming into Monday's game, Iowa State was shooting 31 percent from three as a team, so in response, Auburn attempted to shut down the paint and dare the Cyclones to beat them from deep, hence, double-big.
The first play has Broome playing in a drop and leaving Joshua Jefferson open from three. Dumb decision, right? Well, that's a 28 percent career three-point shooter and that was his first make of the season. Okay.
Same guy in the second clip. If he's going to hit that you just shake his hand and move on.
Tamin Lipsey is a very good player, and Auburn contained him well, but this was another issue.
Denver Jones sees the screen coming so he cheats to his right to try and get over, so Lipsey rejects the screen and Broome isn't able to recover in time.
Yes, these are in the second half, but this point needs to be made.
Notice how Iowa State is guarding Broome. His man is stuck to him, and as soon as the ball is swung to the corner, the defender from the opposite corner shaded over to double Broome.
This made it so that it was impossible for him to handle the ball and he either had to get up a quick, forced shot, like the first clip, or it'd be a turnover if Auburn tried to force it, as it did in the second clip.
Also, notice that Dylan Cardwell isn't in the game on either of these possessions and they were still sending the help.
Okay, let's talk about how Auburn got back into it.
DOUBLE BIG TO SAVE THE DAY
Pearl loves playing depth, we know this. Auburn at its best is when 10 guys are playing which in turn makes it so that the Tigers' best players are fresh to close the game.
He went away from that against Iowa State.
Pearl played Broome the entire second half, Miles Kelly played 17 minutes, Cardwell and Jones played 16 and Chad Baker-Mazara played 15.
The only reason they left the game was foul trouble.
That lineup played the majority of the second half - a half that Auburn won by 18 points.
On the season, that lineup, according to EvanMiya, has an adjusted offensive rating of 130 and an adjusted defensive rating of 90.4 - both elite marks.
"It was easy to go with Dylan, easy to go with the double bigs, and they got two monsters in there, too," Pearl said. "I just thought Dylan being in there at the end of the game, it just makes us better defensively. He's one of the best defensive centers in college basketball."
This is how the double-big lineup can be so tough to deal with.
Since Auburn has two bigs, there is always going to be a paint protector which allows for Auburn's perimeter defenders to be extremely aggressive.
Look at Baker-Mazara. He's going for steals and face-guarding his man. This is a great way to get blown by, but when you have rim-protecting bigs on the floor, you can do that. Also, notice Broome literally reaching out to touch the ball handler on the up-to-touch coverage.
Baker-Mazara gets beat on the cut, but because of the extra rim protection in the paint, it results in an errant pass and a turnover.
This is a play off of a flex screen and cut. Just remember that.
Remember the aggressive help defense Iowa State was playing on Broome? This is how you beat it.
Broome invited the double, and as soon as it came, he fired a pass to Miles Kelly.
Now Iowa State is in scramble mode, so Kelly attacks the close-out and hits a mid-range shot, something he needs to - and can - do more of.
Auburn also tried a little misdirection which got Iowa State's defense off balance long enough for Broome to quickly flip up a shot from the block.
Auburn completely shut off Iowa State from scoring inside the paint in the second half.
In the first half, Iowa State had 24 paint points, but in the second, that number was cut to 10.
Look at the amount of bodies in the paint.
Despite how well Iowa State shot from deep in the first half, Auburn was still okay with daring the Cyclones to beat them from deep.
Again, notice how the Tigers are able to gamble on drives knowing that the rim protection will save them if they're beat.
Look at how Auburn is crashing Iowa State's drives.
There are three bodies inside the paint shutting off the drive which in turn gave Jefferson another open look, but the Tigers banked on him not being able to consistently hit from deep, and they were right.
This is great Baseline out-of-bounds work from Auburn.
Iowa State knows Auburn wants the ball in Broome's hands, and Auburn knows that it knows that.
So how does Auburn respond? It gets the ball to Baker-Mazara in the corner who allows the help to come before hitting the weakside.
And because it is Kelly on that weak side, Iowa State enters scramble mode, and even though Kelly misses, Broome is there to finish and take advantage of the Cyclones being a jumbled mess.
Another way to take advantage of the Cyclones going all out to stop Broome? Use him as a screener and reject that screen.
Both defenders have their eyes on Broome waiting for Jones to run the screen-and-roll game, but instead, he rejects the screen and had his defender flat-footed leading to a foul.
Let's talk about how good Cardwell was.
For the double big lineup to work, it pretty much all hinges on Cardwell to be able to guard the perimeter and not be a negative on offense.
He did both of those things in the second half.
In the second half, Cardwell only recorded two rebounds, steals, assists and a block. That was his whole stat line, and yet, it was as impactful of a half as he's had in an Auburn uniform.
In these plays, he is chasing around Curtis Jones and Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State's leading scorers who are both guards. In both of these plays, he stands his ground on the perimeter, and in the second play, he stays with Jones step for step on both the perimeter and the drive. That's as good as it gets.
THE ENDING
That was an electric end to the game, let's look at the final minute.
Remember the flex cut? Auburn went right back to it when it needed a bucket the most.
Again, Iowa State knows Auburn wants the ball in Broome's hands, and Auburn knows that it knows that.
Jefferson, the center defender, has his eyes locked in on Broome for a split second too long and it's just long enough for Kelly to get open on the cut. Tie game.
Does this final play not perfectly encapsulate Auburn's second half?
The Tigers are able to be aggressive because, again, they have the rim protectors, and they know Iowa State wants to drive. This leads to a turnover and Auburn is able to get the final shot.
On the final play, Iowa State switches the action and Jones attacks that, and although he missed, because of the switch, Broome has a size advantage and a great tip in chance that the best player in the country is able to capitalize on.
Ball game.
"Coach wanted a simple high ball screen with me and Denver," Broome said. "Denver drove, and we teach it every day in practice, worst thing to do is get them the rim. Me and Denver is down there, we're two animals, and he got on a run, and I let God do the rest."
Final thoughts
- How about Baker-Mazara?! He gets hurt in the first half and sits for most of it but then comes back in the second to start the comeback for the Tigers.
"I just bumped knees with one of the guys and probably hit like a bad spot," Baker-Mazara said postgame. "I always say my mama raised a warrior. If I'm not dead, I'm going out there on the court."
- Half of this story was about how Auburn took advantage of Iowa State trying to take away Broome, and yet, he still finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. That is the best player in the country, and certainly the best in the SEC.
- Up next is North Carolina which also overcame a massive deficit. The key with them is that they play with the sixth fastest tempo in the country according to KenPom, which is something Auburn struggled with at times last season.
- Two Quad-1A wins and it's November. If you don't believe this Auburn team can win a title and should be considered among the favorites to then you're just lying to yourself.
