It took an extra five minutes, but the Auburn Tigers took down Mississippi State 81-68 to clinch at least a share of the SEC regular-season title in Starkville.
This is Auburn’s second SEC regular-season title under Bruce Pearl with the other coming in 2018. The Tigers can clinch the title outright if they beat South Carolina on Saturday.
“I'd say this is probably one of the best regular-season wins I've had in a long career,” Pearl said. “To win a championship on the road at a really good place against a really good team and a really good coach, with our backs up against the wall.”
The Tigers came out hot to start the game as they shot 50% from three in the first half and posted 40 points in the frame leading by as many as 18 points.
Zep Jasper started the game on fire hitting all three of the threes that he took in the first half as he helped spring the early Auburn run. Jasper and others hitting threes is a key to making Auburn’s offense work as efficiently as possible, according to Pearl.
“It's great. It's huge,” Pearl said. “Look, we're a spread, ball-screen offense. And stuff doesn't work very well — you can't spread them if you can't shoot it.”
With Jasper and the rest of the Auburn team on fire, the Bulldogs weren’t able to put multiple guys on Jabari Smith and he responded by scoring 14 points in the first half while not missing a shot. Smith finished the game with 27 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.
“I felt like I was in a groove in the first half,” Smith said. “We came into the second half, they jumped on us a little bit, and had to pick my scoring up, I had to be more aggressive.”
It was a different story in the second half as the Tigers came out cold to start the half scoring only nine points in the first 13 minutes. The Tigers only managed to put up 21 points in the entire second half.
Part of what got the Bulldogs back in the game was the rebounding battle, as they outrebounded Auburn 50-32, 21 of which were offensive rebounds.
The Bulldogs’ two forwards, Garrison Brooks and Tolu Smith, were physical down low pulling down a combined 20 rebounds.
“Oh yeah, it was real physical,” Smith said “With the four and five they’ve got, they’ve been playing college basketball for a long time. They’ve got a lot of experience. Real good players and they gave us everything we asked for. So yeah, it was a real physical game.”
Despite this, the Tigers’ defense was able to keep them in the game as they only allowed the Bulldogs to score seven points in the final 7:20 of the game.
“We just got in the huddle, we tried to make an emphasis on staying together and knowing it’s a long game left, and we did that,” Smith said. “We broke it down on defense, we made an emphasis on getting rebounds, getting 50-50 balls, and we did that. And everything else took care of itself.”
The Tigers were down two with one minute left but they turned to their superstar freshman, Smith, who was able to hit a mid-range shot to tie the game at 61.
The Tigers had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation but Smith was unable to connect on the final shot of regulation.
In overtime, K.D. Johnson took over.
Johnson entered overtime with only two points, and he exited the extra frame with 14.
Johnson scored the first 10 points of overtime effectively putting the game away for Auburn. Johnson outscored Mississippi State 12-7 in overtime by himself.
“You know, I was struggling in the first half,” Johnson said “My coaches and my teammates were just picking me, and they were just telling me, ‘It’s March time,’ you know? It’s the time when all the special players show up. So, I just decided to come through for my teammates, make the play and get the win.”
Auburn ran out a unique lineup to close out overtime as Allen Flanigan was replaced by Zep Jasper and Auburn ran three guards. The lineup was a +13 and put the game away for the Tigers.
“I did go with a small lineup in the last few minutes of the game and throughout the overtime,” Pearl said. “That lineup hadn't played together all year, but I just felt like that group could get it done.”
Auburn was able to do a number on Mississippi State guard, and the SEC’s leading scorer, Iverson Molinar as he only managed to put up 14 points and shot only 26% on the night.
This was Auburn’s first win on the road since they took down Georgia on February 5, so the Tigers were happy to get out of Starkville with a win.
“Just happy to win on the road,” Smith said. “It’s been a minute. So you know, it just feels good to win.”
Despite the road location, there were times that Humphrey Coliseum sounded like Auburn Arena as the visiting fans were able to make an impact on the game like they have done all season at numerous road locations.
“They wanted to be here when we won this championship, '' Pearl said. “You know, Kentucky is obviously famous in our league for their fans traveling. I don't know that this year, any team traveled more fans than Auburn. I think you're going to see that in Tampa, as well. And all I can tell you is that I'm grateful.”
Auburn will play its final game of the regular season against South Carolina on Saturday, March 5. The game will air at 12 p.m. CST on the SEC Network.
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Henry is a sophomore from Dallas, Texas. This is his second year with The Auburn Plainsman.
Twitter: @Henry_Patton23
