Broome and Auburn elbow their way into Final Four

ATLANTA – How good is Johni Broome?

Well, the Auburn star helped carry the Tigers to their win Sunday with one arm behind his back.

Ok. It wasn’t exactly behind his back.

But, Broome put on a Willis Reed-like return to the court with an injured right elbow to lead the Tigers to a 70-64 win over Michigan State in the NCAA South Region final.

Broome was injured when he crashed to the floor fighting for a rebound with about 10 minutes left in the game.

“It was a scary moment,” Broome said. “I went down but my team had my back.”

Then, with 5:29 to play, Broome returned to the court, greeted by an ovation from the Auburn faithful.

And, in storybook fashion, he grabbed a defensive rebound with one hand 26 seconds later and hit a three-pointer at the 4:40 mark for a 60-48 Auburn lead.

“All glory to God,” said Broome. “When I came back out, when I hit that 3 ball, I called on him again. You’ve got to always call on him. He’s always going to deliver. I just wanted to help my teammates.

“If that’s coming back out and playing and hitting one shot and grabbing the rebound, I was going to do it.”

Broome led the Tigers with 25 points and 14 rebounds, his 21st double-double of the season.

“John Broome stepped up again,” Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl said. “Just keep doubting him, and keep thinking that he’s not going to be able to get to another gear. I know what he’s capable of. You talk about delivering again at the biggest moments.”

And, with the win, Auburn advances to the Final Four for the second time in program history. The Tigers will face Florida on Saturday at 5:09 p.m. CT on CBS.

“We have to continue to figure out ways to elevate our game,” Pearl said in the locker room after cutting down the nets. “We’re playing for a national championship.”

Game facts

• Auburn wins the NCAA South Regional Championship and advances to the Final Four for the second time in program history (2019) this week in San Antonio, Texas.
• With its victory over Michigan State, Auburn extended its program record with its 32nd win of the season, which is tied for the 13th-most victories in a season in SEC history. The only other SEC programs that have won at least 32 games in a season are Arkansas, Florida and Kentucky.
• Auburn improved to 23-13 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 2-1 in the Elite Eight. Bruce Pearl is 21-13 in the NCAA Division I Tournament overall and 12-5 at Auburn. This is his second career NCAA Division I Final Four after leading Auburn to its second Final Four in the last six NCAA Tournaments. Pearl and Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo have now split a pair of matchups in the Elite Eight after Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans defeated Pearl and Tennessee, 70-69, in 2010.
• AU is now 4-0 against the Big Ten Conference this season. The Tigers defeated Ohio State, 91-53, as part of Holiday Hoopsgiving on Dec. 14 at State Farm Arena and beat No. 16 Purdue, 87-69, on Dec. 21 in Birmingham. They also won 78-65 over Michigan in Friday’s Sweet 16 matchup, before Sunday’s 70-64 victory over Michigan State in the Elite Eight.
• Auburn is 6-2 all-time in State Farm Arena. The Tigers have now won four-straight games in the venue, including three wins this season, with a 91-53 victory over Ohio State on Dec. 14 and a 78-65 victory over Michigan in the Sweet 16 on Friday and a 70-64 win over Michigan State in the Elite Eight on Sunday.
• The Tigers are now 3-1 all-time in NCAA Tournament games in Atlanta. Prior to Auburn’s two wins this weekend, the No. 8 seeded Tigers defeated No. 9 seeded Bradley 90-86, but lost 107-87 to top-seeded Oklahoma in the Omni in the first two rounds of the Southeast Region in 1988.
• Auburn went with the starting five of Denver Jones, Miles Kelly, Chad Baker-Mazara, Broome and Dylan Cardwell. The group is 23-4 as a starting unit on the year. Cardwell is the only player who has started all 37 games for the Tigers this season.
• The attendance was 16,768 for a total attendance of 33,511 in Auburn’s two games at State Farm Arena in the 2025 South Regional.
• Auburn led 33-24 at the half and improved to 28-1 on the season when leading at halftime.
• With its 16 assists in the Elite Eight, Auburn now has 602 assists on the season, joining last year’s squad, which set a program record with 622 assists, as the only teams to record 600 assists in a season in program history.
• Auburn committed only six turnovers in its Elite Eight win over Michigan State, which is one off the Tigers’ NCAA tournament record of five turnovers against Virginia in the 2019 Final Four and North Carolina in the 1985 Sweet 16.
• Auburn made 11 free throws matching the 2016-17 Tigers for fourth on the school’s single-season free throw list with 562 made free throws.
• Auburn was led by NCAA South Regional Most Outstanding Player Johni Broome and NCAA All-South Regional Team member Tahaad Pettiford, who both scored in double figures. Broome recorded his 81st career double-double with 25 points and 14 rebounds. It was his fifth career double-double in the NCAA Tournament, which matched Jeff Moore for the most in program history. Broome is averaging 17.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per contest in the tournament.
• It was Broome’s fourth game of the season with at least 25 points and 10 rebounds. He moved ahead of Bryce Brown and Frank Ford into fourth on Auburn’s NCAA career scoring chart with 126 points and leaped Moore into second on Auburn’s career rebounding chart with 958 boards. He also jumped Chuck Person and Morris into second on Auburn’s NCAA Tournament career rebounding list with 84 boards. Broome moved past Bryce Brown (2018-19) and KT Harrell (2014-15) into sixth on Auburn’s single-season scoring list with 654 points. Additionally, Broome moved past Person for the sixth-most field goals in a season in program history with 257.
• For the fifth time this season, Broome recorded a double-double in the first half as he went for 17 points and 11 rebounds before halftime against the Spartans.
• Pettiford scored in double figures for the fourth-straight NCAA Tournament game to begin his career as he finished with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to go with three assists, one block, one rebound and one steal in Auburn’s win over Michigan State in the Elite Eight. He is averaging 17.3 points in the tournament. It was his 22nd game in double figures this season, which is tied with Wesley Person (1990-91) for sixth among Tiger freshmen all-time. Pettiford made four field goals, giving him 145 field goals on the season, which moved him past Charles Barkley into ninth place among Auburn freshmen all-time.