NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Auburn was able to advance to its first SEC Tournament Championship in nearly 20 years, but not without some type of controversy.
Shortly after Jared Harper drilled a 3-pointer with just over 12 seconds left in the game to put the Tigers up four, Jalen Hudson came sprinting coast-to-coast for the quick 2-point score to bring the game back within two.
Florida would send Harper to the line after a Florida and Auburn timeout where he would make one and miss one of his attempts to put the Tigers up three.
After the miss, Keyontae Johnson rebounded the ball and swung it cross-court to freshman point guard and late-game hero of Florida’s upset win over one-seed LSU, Andrew Nembhard.
Before going into controversy – flashback to December when Auburn was up three to UAB and chose not to foul. Jeremiah Bell would make them pay and nail a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Now back the SEC Tournament.
Trying to learn from past mistakes, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl instructed Bryce Brown to foul if Harper were to miss his second free throw.
“I told Bryce to foul Nembhard as he was bringing the ball up the floor if Jared had missed the free throw, where it would be a three-point game,” Pearl said.
Harper did miss the free throw, but Brown did not foul Nembhard immediately like instructed.
“I wanted a foul,” Pearl said. “Bryce waited until Nembhard got a little too close to the basket, then began to start his moving to shoot the basketball.
“Whether Nembhard got tied up cleanly or there was some contact, obviously they passed on it, and we were fortunate."
Brown let Nembhard dribble past half court where he was met by three Tigers – Brown, J’Von McCormick and Samir Doughty – with time winding down and the Tigers trying to foul him before a shot goes up. Nembhard rose up for a desperation heave and was met with a lot of contact but no foul was called.
“I was supposed to get an early foul,” Brown said. “I realized I couldn’t get it early. I thought he was going to pass it, actually. So, I backed off and honestly he put the ball in my chest.”
J’von McCormick and Samir Doughty looked like the ones who made the most contact with Nembhard on the play.
"All I saw was a miss ... the official makes the wrong call all the time,” Doughty said. “That's a part of the game. That's a play you've got to deal with.
“[Bruce] didn’t say anything to me … [Bruce] told Bryce to foul and that’s what Bryce was supposed to do. He didn’t tell me to foul at all. It was just a mistake. We make mistakes all the time. We got the win. That’s all that really matters. We’ll take the win.”
In the wake of the controversial no-call, Auburn advances to the SEC Championship and will play Tennessee on Sunday at noon CT.
The Tigers defeated Tennessee earlier this month 84-80, to finish out the regular season.
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