ATLANTA (WKRG) — Blue and orange confetti rained down Sunday night in State Farm Arena as the Auburn Tigers took down the Michigan State Spartans and are heading to the Final Four for the second time in school history.
Both of Auburn’s Final Four appearances (2019) have come under head coach Bruce Pearl.
News 5 Sports Director Simone Eli was in Atlanta for Auburn’s Sweet 16 and Elite 8 wins. She spoke with Pearl following Auburn’s 70-64 victory over Michigan State.
“Well, I feel like this year we kind of earned it,” Pearl said after the win. “We were the No. 1 overall seed. We paid our dues that year [2019] when we got to the Final Four, you know, that was sort of Cinderella. It was magic as a five seed working our way through. Sometimes it’s harder to do what you’re expected to do. And at this point, there are only No. 1’s; it’s all chalk. The committee did a great job selecting this field, and we stepped up.”
Auburn forward Johni Broome left Sunday’s game in the second half with an apparent injury and later returned to the court to help the Tigers back to the Final Four. Broome finished the game with 25 points hitting 10 of his 13 shots from the field with 14 rebounds.
Pearl went on to discuss how proud he is of Broome.
“Incredible,” Pearl said. “Just incredibly proud of Johni, incredibly proud of No. 4. We got No. 4, and they don’t.”
The Tigers will head to San Antonio to take on Southeastern Conference foe Florida on Saturday night at 5:09 with a trip to the national championship on the line.
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