What a game with the full range of every emotion possible. Brutal start with the UF player getting injured. Really hope he is able to make a full recovery. That was tough on every guy on the floor. Our guys did a good job of staying centered and not letting that tragedy throw them off their game. Controlled the first half and had a chance to put it away before the break but let them stay in it. When UF cut the lead from 11 to 1 in the second half, most teams would have folded. Everything was going against us. Refs were falling every touch on us and nothing on them. Florida was running all over us. With an SEC Title on the line, that was the ultimate gut check moment. Our guys answered the bell just like they did late yesterday when State cut the lead to 1. After going an entire season without winning a close game, 2 days in a row we were in an absolute battle in the second half and the guys proved they have the mental makeup to win in March. So much so today that we ran them out of the building after we stopped their run.
The analytics said our team was great all year. The close losses that cost us an SEC Regular Season title made the season underwhelming coming into Nashville. Winning this title cements this team's legacy as one of our all-time greats. This gives BRUCE 2 SEC Regular Season Titles and 2 Tournament Titles in the last 6 years. To go along with our Final 4, no team in the SEC has been better than us since BRUCE resurrected our program.
Broome was an absolute monster today. Dominant double-double performance and added 3 assists and 3 steals. He took over the game for several stretches on offense and UF had no answer for him. If they doubled him, he passed out of it to find easy buckets for others. We have had some incredible players under BRUCE, but none will ever be more impactful than Broome. To say he is our MVP doesn't even come close to doing justice to what he does for this team. He's the 2nd best player in the country per KP's analytics and no one deserves a conference title more than him.
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CMO had some tough moments this year. He never stopped playing with high intensity and came through huge for us in Nashville. He made several plays yesterday that were crucial to getting us into the final. The play of the game today, imo, was his steal and breakaway dunk when UF had the ball and the chance to take the lead. Just a gutsy, pure effort move to anticipate that pass and take it away. That play stopped their momentum and started our run to blow them out.
Tre was also a huge catalyst in the second half run. He had a big steal when we were up 3 and then knocked down a couple of 3 pointers to rebuild the lead. He was shaky early in this one, but settled down and ended the day with a 4/2 assist to TO performance. Can't say enough about how important he has been this year. Massive improvement over last year and he's trending towards being a really special player over a 4 year career.
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I hope we can all savor this one. After an up and down year with so many close losses, this is about as good as it gets as an Auburn hoops fan. And now that we have proven we can win tough games in March, the sky is the limit for this group. Play like we did the last 3 days and it's going to take a monumental effort for someone to send us home. This story isn't over and can't wait to see what BRUCE and our guys write in their final chapter. WAR DAMN EAGLE.
