K.D. Johnson might not be at Georgia anymore, but he still has a lot of dog left in him.

In Auburn's 115-109 double-overtime loss to UConn, Johnson's toughness and gritty play was a big part of keeping Auburn in it.

He helped Auburn climb back from down 15 in the second half. When Auburn was down two with 10 seconds left in the first overtime, it was Johnson that took the inbounds pass and ran the distance of the court to tie it up and secure second overtime.

From clutch steals to clutch buckets, Johnson was everywhere on the floor.

"I'm just trying to do anything to get a W," Johnson said. "I don't want to focus on anything that I have going; I was just trying to get a win."

Johnson — like Auburn — got off to a slow start in the first half. The Tigers went on an 11-0 run after trailing early, then a Dan Hurley timeout had UConn surging.

The Huskies went into halftime up 11 and Johnson had just four points and two steals on his stat-sheet.

From there, though, Johnson took over. He was constantly attacking the basket and drawing fouls on offense in the second half and first overtime. He added three more steals and was consistently making big plays for the Tigers.

In the second overtime Johnson hit a three to tie it at 100 before UConn went on a 9-0 run and up 109-100 on Auburn with 53 seconds left. Johnson and the Tigers tried to climb back in it, but it was just a little too much.

Johnson finished the game with a career-high 27 points, shooting 7-of-16 from the floor, 2-4 from three and 11-of-16 from the free throw line along with five steals in 38 minutes.

"I thought we played with great effort and energy, fairly decent level of toughness and I think what K.D. said is exactly right — he just wanted to win," Bruce Pearl said. "So my job is to get him the ball in space and let him make plays. Whether that’s attacking downhill — which he did a great job of getting to the free throw line — or just having the confidence to pull up from three. Felt pretty good calling stuff just getting him the ball in space."

Johnson and Auburn will have to rally from the loss quickly with a matchup against Loyola Chicago slated for tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. CT on ESPN or ESPN2.

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