Notebook: Auburn versus Mississippi State
As it had been the previous two times the teams played, Auburn and Mississippi State engaged in a physical, gritty matchup.
In the end, it was Auburn who pulled out a 73-66 win over the Bulldogs to clinch a berth in the SEC Championship game.
The seven-point win was the lowest margin Auburn has won by all season, and its the first Tiger win that wasn't a double-digit game.
"It was a rock fight because both teams were playing really, really physical," said Bruce Pearl. "That's Mississippi State's MO. Our MO is playing hard all the time, not always quite as physical. They beat us on the boards, but we hung in there. We hung in there. I thought that was really important."
PUNCHED IN THE MOUTH, AND THEN...
Despite the score being tied at halftime, Auburn was getting killed on the boards, specifically on the defensive end.
In the first half, Auburn had 10 total rebounds while the Bulldogs had 12 offensive rebounds and 22 total which led to 10 second-chance points.
The second half was a different story as the Tigers out-rebounded State 19-10 and held them to just five offensive rebounds and two second-chance points.
So what caused the flip? A Chris Moore locker room speech.
"We were in a close game and it kind of shocked us because we were playing so bad," Moore said." It was in a close game, and we had some guys that were beating up themselves because of the mistakes they made in the first half. I had to tell them, ‘hey guys, we’re playing bad right now, but it’s a tie game, it’s 31-31 at halftime. Let’s not beat ourselves up. Let’s go out there and stay together. Let’s stay right. Let’s stay ready. Go out here and play Auburn brand basketball."
FOLKS, THESE TEAMS DON'T LIKE EACH OTHER
With 17:25 to go in a three-point game, Chad Baker-Mazara got into it with a Mississippi State player that earned him and D.J. Jeffries each a technical foul.
"I was just really trying to create space for me and he basically hit himself with my elbow if you really see," Baker-Mazara said. "I was trying to put my hands up, but I mean, double technical, it don't matter. We just come and get the W. That's all that matters."
In total, there were five technicals on the day, and It's completely on brand for both schools - Auburn and Mississippi State are two of the most physical teams in the SEC. It only made sense that the game went this way.
"Today was very chippy, but like I said, that’s a great team over there and we knew what kind of fight we were going to be in in this game," Moore said. "This is an aggressive team."
As for Auburn, it likes games like this where it can be a villain.
"This whole team does," Moore said when asked about liking a villain role. "I feel like the villains are the good guys sometimes when it comes to times like this because people always say we needed the Jungle, we needed our crowd behind us.
Same time though, we love winning those neutral site games because we show everybody in the country that we can win anywhere at any time at any place.
FIRST SINGLE-DIGIT WIN
Auburn picked up its 26th win of the season on Saturday; it was the first one by single digits.
Prior to Saturday, Auburn's closest win was by 11 points over Texas A&M in January, but now it has a clutch win under its belt.
There were multiple times when the Bulldogs cut the lead to one possession, but each time, the Tigers had an answer.
A combination of hitting free throws and getting clutch stops allowed Auburn to pull it out in the end.
"When it comes to games like that, basically it comes to who wants it more," Baker-Mazara said. "A little 50/50 plays, going to make the extra hustle, the one more pass, who's more disciplined at the end."
DYLAN CARDWELL LEGACY MOMENT
Just as it seemed like Auburn might pull away, the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run to cut the Tiger lead to one forcing a Tiger timeout.
After the timeout, Pearl decided to insert the entire bench besides Jaylin Williams.
The result? Arguably the best stretch of Dylan Cardwell's life.
The senior center got a much-needed dunk to stop the State run, tipped Josh Hubbard's shot on the perimeter, and leaked out and got a dunk off of the blocked shot.
This increased Auburn's lead to five and forced a State timeout as Auburn had stolen the momentum back.
“I really just started off praying on the court just like, ‘give me the opportunity, Lord, to turn this game around," Cardwell said. "Give this lineup the opportunity to turn this game around’ and that’s what we did. It’s nothing I really thought about - I was flowing. I wasn’t overthinking. And seeing Josh Hubbard wide open was really scary. Really scary. So I jumped as high as I could, put a hand up, and tipped it a little bit. Then I just ran and Jay-Will threw a great outlet pass.”
BALANCED SCORING VERSUS... NOT THAT
In a relatively low-scoring game, the Tigers had five double-digit scorers with no player shooting more than 10 times.
In the second half, the Tigers had eight different scorers that ranged from two points to nine points.
The opposite was true for State in the second half as Josh Hubbard had 17 of the Bulldogs' 35 points and shot 12 of their 29 shots in the final 20 minutes.
The assist difference was also a factor as the Tigers had 15, with Aden Holloway having six, while the Bulldogs had just seven.
"We're a program that's committed to playing 10 guys double-digit minutes," Pearl said. "We're a program committed to playing our stars sometimes under 30 so that we can be fresh in March and be fresh in the end of the season, at the end of games or the end of halves to be able to make runs."
THE IMPORTANCE OF TRANSITION
State's defense is lockdown in the half-court, and it showed that by holding Auburn to 0.919 points per possession in half-court settings.
The Bulldogs' transition defense is not as strong, and Auburn took advantage when it could.
It was a turnover-heavy game as the Tigers had 15 and the Bulldogs had 14, and whenever it could, Auburn took advantage.
The Tigers scored 14 of their 71 points in transition and scored them at a rate of 1.273 points per possession.
When Auburn averages at least one point per possession in transition, it is 21-0.
"In the first half, I don't feel like we executed like we wanted to," said Tre Donaldson. "But just sitting down and actually executing in the second half, I feel like it helped us."