Auburn Rallies Past Michigan, Storms Into Elite Eight
The Auburn Tigers may have won convincingly on the scoreboard, but their 78-65 victory over Michigan was anything but easy. Trailing 48-39 with just over 12 minutes left, Auburn looked on the verge of a shocking exit—until everything changed.
A 34-8 run flipped the game, securing Auburn’s spot in the Elite Eight and silencing doubts that had surrounded the Tigers since their SEC Championship win. After dropping their last two regular-season games and exiting early in the SEC Tournament, Auburn hadn’t looked dominant—until the moment they needed it most.
A Heated Timeout That Changed Everything
Sensing the urgency, Bruce Pearl called a timeout as frustration boiled over. Players exchanged heated words on the sideline, but Johni Broome, a Player of the Year candidate, saw it as a turning point.
“We’re brothers at the end of the day,” Broome said. “Brothers are going to bump heads. Everybody wearing Auburn wants to win, and sometimes, to win, you’ve got to go through adversity.”
Rather than shutting it down, Pearl let his players hash it out before refocusing them.
“Coach has confidence in us,” Broome added. “We’re a player-led team sometimes. A couple guys said what we needed to say. You listen, shake it off, and then go play hard for Coach Pearl.”
Pearl, watching his team leaders take charge, knew they had turned a corner.
“We made some mistakes, turned the ball over, and I let them jaw at each other a little bit,” Pearl explained. “Then I told them, ‘Hey, we’re good. You’re just pushing each other. I love the energy. Just slow down a little.’”
That moment sparked Auburn’s revival—and possibly their first-ever national championship run. The Tigers earned the No. 1 overall seed by battling through the nation’s toughest schedule, but they hadn’t played to that level in weeks.
Against Michigan, they rediscovered their identity just in time. Can they keep the momentum going against No. 2 Michigan State on Sunday at 4:05 p.m. CT on CBS? The answer could determine if this Auburn team is truly destined for history.
