It is safe to say that Auburn's Bruce Pearl is ecstatic that his team is heading to the Final Four.
The No. 1 seed Auburn Tigers beat No. 2 Michigan State on Sunday, 70-64, to claim the South Region title and to secure the last slot in the Final Four round of the NCAA Tournament that begins next weekend. With the win, the SEC is guaranteed to have one team in the NCAA Tournament final as the Tigers draw Florida in the Final Four next Saturday.
Auburn earned the win by winning the field, outshooting Michigan State, 43% to 34%. Auburn's star forward, Johni Broome, also had an MVP caliber game by scoring 25 points and securing 14 rebounds. He also exited the game with about 10 minutes remaining in the game due to an apparent elbow injury, but later returned to help his team close out the game.
Following the game, Pearl spoke to the media about an array of topics including the Tigers' special win, Johni Broome's injury status, and the giant steps the SEC has taken in becoming a major player in the world of college basketball. Here is a rundown of what Pearl said after Auburn's March Madness win over Michigan State on Sunday.
Opening statement
"I guess the first thought is there are four teams in the country that are left, and Auburn is one of them. So we couldn't be happier. I want to congratulate Michigan State on an incredible year. We saw them in Maui, and they were good. I don't know that when we saw them in Maui, that you'd look at that team and say, hey, they're going to go 17-3 in the Big Ten, and they did. The Big Ten was good, and I thought Tom and I talked before the games, our teams kind of mirrored each other in many ways, the way we defended, how hard we played, the way we try to dominate the backboards, so on and so forth. But I felt going in that we were better. I felt like I had better players. That's not a criticism at all. I told our guys right now, we haven't beaten a team yet that I thought was better than us. That's why we're the overall Number 1 seed. We're going to the Final Four with our four 1 seeds. The four teams that advanced, I think they're the four best teams in the country. That doesn't obviously always happen. Johni Broome stepped up again. Just keep doubting him, and keep thinking that he's not going to be able to get to another gear. One of the reasons why I'm on him and my son Steven's on him pretty good is because I know what he's capable of, I know what he's capable of. You talk about delivering again at the biggest moments. Last thing is just grateful for our fans and our families because Auburn looked -- we are a football school. We are. Don't ever forget that. We're a football school. We are. But we're also an everything ...
