Published Mar 18, 2022
Jabari posterizes JSU
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Bryan Matthews  •  AuburnSports
Senior Editor
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@BMattAU

GREENVILLE | Bruce Pearl sung the ESPN SportsCenter jingle. K.D. Johnson called it crazy. The raucous crowd at Bon Secours Wellness Arena nearly lost its mind.

It even prompted a signature, “Send it in, big fella,” from veteran CBS announcer Bill Raftery.

Jabari Smith put the finishing touches on Auburn’s 80-61 win over Jacksonville State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a thunderous one-handed dunk.

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“It was a pretty nasty dunk, and it just shows how athletic and how good of a player Jabari is,” said Walker Kessler, who also joked that Smith is not doing that to him in practice.

After back-to-back alley-oop dunks by Walker Kessler and Devan Cambridge, Smith grabbed a rebound from his own missed 3-pointer, dribble twice and elevated well over JSU 6-foot-10 center Brandon Huffman for a powerful dunk, also drawing the foul.

“Oh, my God, that's what I was going to ask y'all. Did y'all see that? That was crazy,” said Johnson. “I didn't know he was going to do that. He never did that in practice. That was the first time he showed me he can get that high, so that was crazy.”

Smith finished with a team-high 20 points along with 14 rebounds, but it was his dunk that’s going to be one of the defining moments of this season and for a freshman that’s projected as a top overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft.

“It's going to be on SportsCenter tonight,” said Pearl. “Isn't that every kid's dream? He postered him. He really did. And those kids love it. They obviously love that.

No. 2 seed Auburn will play No. 7 seed USC or No. 10 seed Miami in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday.

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