Chris Moore draped his arm around K.D. Johnson’s shoulders as they ducked into the tunnel and into the locker room. A throng of Auburn fans sprinkled the stands inside the mostly empty Bon Secours Wellness Arena late Sunday night, the Tigers walking off the court for the final time this season.
Auburn’s historic season — one of the best in program history — was over, succumbing to 10th-seeded Miami in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, 79-61. In the locker room afterward, Bruce Pearl solemnly addressed his players, many still fighting through the tears and the pain and the heartbreak of championship aspirations shattered in Greenville, S.C.
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“One of the things we talked about after the game was what can we learn from this?” Pearl said. “What can we learn?”
There were lessons of the value of experience, especially in the postseason; Auburn’s best player, Jabari Smith, was just 18 and played far from his best game. Miami had four sixth-year seniors, with three of them — Charlie Moore, Kameron McGusty and Sam Waardenburg — all coming up big in the Round of 32. There were lessons in ball security, Auburn’s 13 turnovers leading to 17 points on a night that Miami also outpaced the Tigers, 30-1, in transition.
Beyond the X’s and O’s, however, there was a bigger lesson Auburn’s players took away from their season-ending loss and the journey that led them from the SEC’s No. 5 team in the preseason, to (for a few weeks) the No. 1 team in the country, eventual SEC regular-season champions and the top No. 2 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
“It just felt like a family,” Smith said after what was likely his final college game. “It really felt like more than basketball being around everybody. You know, we gave it our all, just it just didn’t end how we wanted it to. But I feel like without basketball, this team will still always be together no matter what.”
That togetherness has been a talking point for these Tigers throughout the season. It’s how a restructured roster — with four transfers and a freshman phenom — exceeded preseason expectations and turned in one of the most memorable seasons in program history. Johnson, a former top-100 recruit, transferred in from Georgia. Walker Kessler transferred from UNC and developed into an All-American. Zep Jasper came in from College of Charleston, providing a steadying hand at point guard. Wendell Green Jr. joined after spending his freshman season at Eastern Kentucky.
Then there was Smith, the five-star freshman who became the program’s second-ever consensus All-American and exceeded even the loftiest of expectations throughout the season.
Four of those five were starters on this team, while Green was the sixth man and the Tigers’ third-leading scorer. Their introduction pushed veterans Devan Cambridge and Jaylin Williams into reserve roles after starting much of last season, but egos were set aside for the sake of a common goal.
“It felt like a family,” Johnson said. “It felt like home when we first met.”
Auburn believed it was talented enough and deep enough to vie for championships, and Pearl got the players to buy in quicker than many could have reasonably expected.
“When you bring in a lot of new guys and transfers from a lot of different places, everybody’s kind of different, it kind of takes a while for groups to normally click and get in sync,” said Allen Flanigan, the lone returner in the starting lineup this season. “But like as soon as we got here, we immediately started hanging out and going places, going bowling and stuff, and just spending time with each other. When we got on the court together, we just synced, and it’s been great since.”
Even if it wasn’t so great Sunday, when a dream season abruptly ended.
Pearl said afterward that this team hadn’t been hit in the mouth like it was against Miami — ironic, considering Williams took a friendly-fire elbow to the face two days earlier, sustaining a pair of chipped teeth against Jacksonville State. Williams bounced back following dental work to fix his teeth, finishing with a team-high 12 points off the bench while knocking down a pair of corner 3-pointers late in the first half as Auburn cut the deficit to one at halftime.
When Miami took another swing coming out of halftime, though, Auburn had no answer. Just like that, a season that had so much promise was over.
“The SEC is going to get crushed because of our tournament performance,” Pearl said. “… The league was really, really good. We didn’t show it in the tournament. But what I’ll take from this team is the fact that they brought it every night. They won more games on the road than any team in the SEC in league play, and we have the best homecourt advantage in league play.
“That’s why we were able to finish. We finished 15-3 in the league. So, champions.”
Auburn huddled on the court one last time Sunday as Bon Secours Wellness Arena emptied out, players and coaches embracing before breaking it down for the final time this season. Auburn on three, family on six.
For this team, that was the most important lesson, even in defeat.
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.
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