No. 1 Auburn prevails in NIT championship thriller, defeats Tulsa in overtime

The Auburn Tigers are NIT champions for the first time ever.

No. 1 Auburn made history on Sunday night in Indianapolis, taking down Tulsa 92-86 in the NIT championship at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in an absolute thriller to close the Tigers’ 2025-26 season.

“Proud of our guys. You know, lesser-character kids, lesser-character young men would have folded it up and, you know, just gotten to the offseason,” Auburn head coach Steven Pearl said after the game. “This group didn't. They used this as an opportunity to compete. They used this as an opportunity to gain some positive momentum going into an offseason, an important offseason for all of us.”

The Tigers once held a 21-point lead over the Golden Hurricane behind a strong performance on both ends of the court in the first half, but Tulsa managed to storm back following the break.

Auburn found itself ahead by 20 just a few minutes into the second half, but a 32-8 Tulsa run over the next 10 minutes ultimately lifted the Golden Hurricane to a four-point advantage with under eight minutes to play.

The Tigers trailed 78-74 with eight seconds remaining, but a made free throw by Elyjah Freeman cut the deficit to three before Auburn forced a five-second violation on the succeeding inbound.

Following the turnover, Kevin Overton caught the inbound pass in the right corner and drained the biggest shot of Auburn’s season, knocking down one of his five triples on the night to tie the game at 78-78 and send it to overtime.

“It was just, basically, a moment play. I was kind of prepared for it,” Overton said. “I just slipped out of it, like I always do. I ran it right. He gave me the ball, and I was, like I said, ready for the moment and I knocked it down.”

Auburn was short-handed down low in overtime, as Keyshawn Hall and Filip Jović fouled out late in regulation. However, it didn’t affect the Tigers, and they outscored Tulsa 14-8 in the extra five minutes and converted five of their six free throws to seal the title.

Overton finished 26 points on 5-for-8 from behind the arc and 7-for-8 from the free throw line, earning him NIT most outstanding player honors. Sunday night marked his third game with 20 points or more in the tournament, as he posted 21 and 23 points against South Alabama and Seattle U, respectively.

Auburn sophomore Tahaad Pettiford followed Overton closely, recording 24 points on 8-for-22 shooting and 4-for-11 from downtown. Pettiford also added eight assists and two rebounds in 43 minutes of action.

The majority of Pettiford’s points came in the first half, as he scored 15 points in the opening period and served as a main reason Auburn was able to jump out to a quick lead.

“Try to come out hot in a championship game. Wanted to set the tone early for my team and let the other team know that we’re here to play,” Pettiford said. “Happy I was able to get off to that start.”

Three other Tigers finished in double-figures, as Sebastian Williams-Adams posted 13, Jović scored 12 and Hall recorded 11 points. Freeman contributed just three points, but he was extremely active on the boards and the defensive end, with 14 rebounds.

Speaking of defense, it was a tale of two halves for Pearl and company.

After scoring 31 points and knocking down just one 3-pointer in the first 20 minutes of action, Tulsa shot 48.1% from the field and 41.7% from deep in the second half.

The Golden Hurricane finished near its season-average 86 points, but Auburn’s perimeter defense likely played a large role in the victory. Tulsa entered the night averaging nearly 11 made threes per game, but it nailed just six triples against the Tigers.

“I thought our guys were really locked into the game plan,” Pearl said. “[We] did a really good job of running them off the 3-point line and making their catches difficult.”

“I thought we turned them over a good bit in the first half. They respected their opponent,” Pearl continued. “That team has won 30 games this year. You know, it's hard to do. And their personnel is really good, and they have got guys that can really knock down shots and make big plays, and we obviously saw that in the second half.”

Auburn ends the season on a five-game winning streak, which it hadn’t completed all year long, finishing Pearl’s inaugural campaign at 22-16 overall.

“With Coach [Bruce Pearl] retiring, the schedule we put in front of them, only having one returner, nine underclassmen, 10 new guys. I want the Auburn Family to remember this group for their resilience and their toughness and their ability to stay together through some difficult stretches,” Pearl said.

Despite losing nine of their final 12 games to close the regular season and missing out on an NCAA Tournament bid, the Tigers regained some much-needed momentum heading into Pearl’s first full offseason at the helm.

But more importantly, at least to this year’s squad, the NIT provided Auburn with an opportunity to prove it belonged in the Big Dance and end the season on a positive note.

And the Tigers did just that, as they are one of two Division-I teams that get to cut down the nets in Indianapolis this weekend and bring some hardware back to the Plains.

“You know, it's a group that really appreciated what the Auburn Family gave to them and the support that they gave,” Pearl added. “I think they just kind of wanted to do the fan base proud and the university proud, and I felt like they did that over the last couple weeks.”