NASHVILLE, Tenn – Auburn advanced to its first SEC Tournament Championship game for the first time since 2000 in large part due to the dominant defensive showing in the team’s first three games of the tournament.
Auburn’s defense hit a low midway through the season but an improved effort down the stretch has put Auburn in position to win its first SEC Tournament title since 1985.
In the semifinal matchup with Florida, Auburn’s defensive intensity forced 19 turnovers that turned into 20 points for the Tigers. That high number of forced turnovers is no surprise because that has been Auburn’s game plan since stepping foot in Nashville.
"If you look at the stat sheet, it's really hard to look at that stat sheet and explain an Auburn victory," said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. "Get dominated on the boards, give up 60 percent shooting, 40 percent from 3. It just doesn't add up, except two things. One, we were able to turn them over 19 times. Florida is a team that averages only 11. We're small, we're quick. We try to make it difficult on people to run their offense."
Throughout the tournament thus far, Auburn has forced 51 turnovers in three games for a positive turnover margin of plus 25. The biggest disparity was against Florida with 19 for Florida and only four for Auburn, a season low.
The 15-turnover difference was a big reason for the gap in the total shots between Auburn and Florida. The Gators took only 38 shots compared to Auburn’s 56 for a shot differential of 18, but a number that climbed as high as 23.
Despite the Gators shooting 70 percent in the first half and 50 percent in the second half, the lack of shots and the high number of forced turnovers went exactly to Auburn’s defensive game plan.
“We’re a quick team,” said guard Samir Doughty. “That’s something we had in our game plan, to turn them over. We just really tried to focus on that, fight through ball screens, stuff like that, just little things we’ve been doing all year. We just tried to continue to do that tonight. It actually worked for us, forced 19 turnovers.”
Florida’s lack of depth, especially at the point guard position, was a point of emphasis for the Tigers’ defense going into to the game. They knew they could tire out Florida with pace, despite Florida trying to control the pace on the offensive end.
“They’ve got six or seven guys, we’ve got nine guys,” Pearl said. “It might have been the difference.
“They were patient with the basketball. [Mike White] did not want to get into a track meet. He don’t mind playing fast but it was their third game, also, they were a little short on the bench and he controlled tempo with his offense.”
Andrew Nembhard, Florida’s starting point guard, was highlighted during game preparations for someone to harass early and often due to the lack of capable ball handlers behind him. The pestering worked with him only scoring four points and turning the ball over four times.
“They’re not a very deep team right now in the season,” said Bryce Brown. “They’ve cut down their rotation ... we tried to just get (Nembhard) tired, try to get him in foul trouble, just threw different looks at him just to get the ball out of his hands sometimes and to make him tired just because we knew they didn’t have a backup point guard and that’s what led to those turnovers.”
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
