Auburn basketball earned a berth in the Final Four for the second time in program history on Sunday by defeating Michigan State, 70-64, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
Several factors led to Auburn’s win, including a 13-0 run in the middle frame of the first half and a strong performance by its star forward, Johni Broome, who scored 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Michigan State shot 34% from the field and gave up 11 points on nine turnovers. Outside of that statline, the Spartans held the advantage in free throw shooting and rebounds.
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Legendary Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo spoke with the media following the Spartans loss, where he made several comments regarding Auburn, Johni Broome, and the SEC as a whole. Here is what Izzo said Sunday following Michigan State’s loss to Auburn in the Elite Eight.
Crediting Auburn for being a good team
“It wasn’t through lack of effort. It wasn’t through lack of anything except we played a good team. Broome hurt us early. We made some adjustments, did a little better job on him after he hit those first, I think, six or eight points. I thought we missed some good shots in there, but maybe some of it was their defense too. All in all, you don’t get defined — unfortunately, your last game wears with you. I’m asking these guys that, if it does, make sure that you do something about it in your life. For Jaden, he’s not done playing basketball either. All in all, the most unbelievable year I’ve had, the most connected year I’ve had. I just appreciate what these guys did for myself, our program, our university, and our community. So questions for them.”
The dominance of the SEC, Auburn
“The league’s been great all year, there’s no question about it. They had the top teams. They competed every week against each other. I think it’s amazing that they were picked 1 in the country early, and they survived most of the year. They went through a little bit of a down spout there, and part of it was Broome was hurt there for a little bit. I think they had one other kid out for a while. We did most of the things we wanted to do except guard Broome a little bit better. It wasn’t the points he scored that got us. We’re used to giving up points and making sure they don’t get 3s. Pretty good 3-point shooting team. We held them to 28 percent. It was just he was 10 for 13. That’s why he’s an All-American. That’s why he’s a Player of the Year candidate. Did a helluva job. I thought that stretch early, they went 17-0, and we just turned the ball over. It’s been a problem for us a little bit. Not the turnovers, we had nine for the game, which is phenomenal against a team like this. But it was in the spurt that’s we had them. Boy, that stretch we had at the beginning. At one time we had four or five offensive rebounds and kicked it out and had shot after shot after shot, it just didn’t go in, and that happens. I’d say Bruce has done a great job because it’s hard to keep a team, as I remember back to those days, from start to finish. The fans were great today. I mean, I don’t think it affected us, and I say that because we played in some of the greatest venues. But they were great. I mean, they were great. I don’t think that’s why we lost. I think we lost because they played better than we did. They didn’t shoot so well, 42, but that includes his 10 for 13. So the rest of the guys, we did a good enough job on. We just didn’t score it enough ourselves, and we didn’t — the turnovers were at critical times that led to layups.”
This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: What Michigan State’s Tom Izzo said about Auburn after Elite 8 loss
