Auburn Tigers – “Going Up And Down Shooting Threes, That’s Us”

Despite all other news, the story of the night in the basketball world is the elimination of the Tar Heels from the NCAA tournament.

The No.1 UNC lost against No.5 Auburn Tigers 80-97, in what was the most surprising game of the whole March Madness.

This might seem sensational to the ones who didn’t follow NCAA that much this season. The Tigers were looking excellent coming into this contest with 10 straight wins, and although it is a surprise, it is not something which nobody expected.

After 33 years, this school has once again reached the Elite Eight, but the price was too high. Chuma Okeke, the best player of the team, suffered what seems to be a severe injury of his left knee.

With 8:08 to go in the second half, Auburn’s leader stepped awkwardly and somehow bent his knee, falling down on the ground and suffering a lot of pain.

Coach Bruce Pearl was pretty disturbed after the game, and when a reporter asked him about Okeke’s condition, he started crying.

“He’s our.. soul,” Pearl began losing his voice and tried to say several more words but couldn’t. “We’re gonna rally.”

“So I’ll go hug on him now,” the 58-year-old coach with tears in his eyes said.

While he played, Okeke was by far the best player on the floor. He had 20 points and 11 rebounds, shooting 8 of 11, in just 25 minutes in the game. When Tigers’ didn’t have the solution for UNC’s defense, the ball was handed to Okeke, who somehow found the way to the basket.

But to be honest, those situations weren’t so often, particularly in the second half.

Auburn’s most lethal weapon worked perfectly. They made 17 three-pointers in 37 attempts, 45.9%, and Carolina’s defense didn’t know what hit them. Even coach Williams stood by the sideline and couldn’t believe.

Pearl’s boys hit 12 downtown hits in the second half, in just 18 shots, which is impressive 66.7%.

During the critical period of the clash, when North Carolina began to come back, and went down to only 6 points, Tigers responded by hitting five consecutive threes and annihilated the morale of the No.1 seed.

“We felt like a faster team, and we felt like a better team,” said Brown after the game when asked about the key for staying composed in the moments when facing adversities.

Danjel Purifoy harassed the rival’s defense, delivering four 3’s for all of his 12 points, and all that in 12 minutes. Malik Dunbar had 13 and three 3’s, Brown 12 and two. In general, the whole Tigers’ crew had a nice shooting night.

This is not anything new for these guys. Against the Jayhawks in the previous round they 43%, 13 of 30, against the Aggies in the first round, 38%, 12 of 32.

“To get up and down the court and shooting threes,” Brown explained their strategy. “We don’t care who disagrees with that type of basketball that is, that is who we are, and who we will continue to be.”

The next opponents of the Tigers are the Kentucky Wildcats, No.1 seed in the Midwest Region. They already met twice this season, and on both occasions, Wildcats won.

Calipari’s team won narrowly at Auburn Arena, 82-80, but they dismantled the Tigers at home 80-53, inflicting them with one of the highest defeats in the last few seasons.

“They physically overwhelmed us in Lexington,” Bruce Pearl said, “We actually went into that game playing pretty well, and we got manhandled.”

He is also aware that the defensive aspect of the game will be emphasized in this matchup and he doesn’t believe that his team is going to score as many points like last night.

“Coach Cal does a phenomenal job with his defense,” Pearl said. “I don’t think we’ll get near 97 or near 80.”

Kentucky survived a late push of the Houston Cougars, and won 62-58, mostly because of Tyler Herro, who showed up when the game was on the line.

The game between these two sides will start tomorrow at 2:20 PM CDT, at Spirit Center in Kansas City.