Michael Cohen
College Football and College Basketball Writer
Of all the Sweet 16 matchups that unfolded over the last two days, none had as many ready-made storylines as the showdown between No. 1 Auburn and No. 5 Michigan in the South Regional.
At the top of the heap was the potential for point guard Tre Donaldson to exact revenge on his former team. Donaldson, the starting point guard for the Wolverines, spent two years playing for Auburn before transferring to Michigan ahead of the current season. Then there was the Danny Wolf subplot in which the Wolverines’ big man, who led the Big Ten in double-doubles, was facing the team he upset in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament while playing for Yale. Wolf scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds in Yale’s pulsating 78-76 victory over fourth-seeded Auburn.
And finally, as of approximately 9:45 p.m. on Friday, there was the possibility for Michigan to face archival Michigan State in the Elite Eight if the Wolverines could wiggle past Auburn, the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. Michigan State narrowly defeated sixth-seeded Ole Miss in the first game of the evening at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, leaving the Spartans a single win from the Final Four.
Sensing, perhaps, the magnitude of the moment — with Auburn chasing just the third Elite Eight appearance in program history and Michigan seeking its first under new head coach Dusty May — the players from both teams accelerated into overdrive as the game looked more and more like a sloppy, mid-summer AAU showcase. Frantic fast breaks covering every inch of the court produced a comedy of errors in an opening half that featured 18 combined turnovers. There was an ill-advised lob pass that sailed out of bounds and a silly behind-the-back pass that wiped away a potential layup for the Tigers. There were guards who got pick-pocketed and big men who were stripped down low. On the sideline, where May and Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl were attempting to manage the chaos afflicting their respective teams, looks of incredulity dominated the show. The Tigers clung to a one-point lead at the break.
Back and forth they went into the second half: six ties, 12 lead changes, neither team pulling ahead by more than five points until Wolf converted a devilish spinning layup off the glass with 13:06 remaining. And the stars for both programs unquestionably delivered: Wolf, who has played his way into NBA lottery discussion, poured in 20 points and grabbed six rebounds; Johni Broome, who is the primary challenger to Duke’s Cooper Flagg for the Naismith Player of the Year award, scored 22 points and snared 16 rebounds, including nine on the offensive end. They were the only players with more than 10 points for their respective teams until just before the midway point of the second half.
But eventually, and perhaps inevitably, Auburn showed why it was considered the best team in the country for most of this season. With its back against the wall, Pearl’s team reeled off an extended 20-2 run that transformed a nine-point deficit into a nine-point lead in fewer than five minutes of game time. The breathtaking sequence included four 3-pointers — three of which came from the incandescent guard Denver Jones, who scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half — and a handful of baskets around the rim. As the final few minutes unfolded, Jones and freshman Tahaad Pettiford (20 points) combined to score 16 straight while the Tigers built a double-digit lead. Pettiford’s spinning fadeaway jumper with 4:35 remaining, plus the foul, served as the metaphorical nail in the coffin for an eventual 78-65 win.
The possibility of an all-Michigan affair in the Elite Eight was extinguished when the Tigers reminded everyone how good they really are.
Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.
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