KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The confetti was still swirling around Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl when he gazed over a team headed to the first Final Four in program history and declared, “This one was for Chuma!”
“The next two,” Pearl added with a triumphant grin, “are for Auburn.”
Drawing inspiration from injured forward Chuma Okeke, the fifth-seeded Tigers finished off a joyful romp through college basketball royalty by bringing down the winningest program of all. Their 77-71 overtime win over second-seeded Kentucky in the Midwest Region final Sunday afternoon came after NCAA tournament blowouts of fourth-seeded Kansas and top-seeded North Carolina that served notice: Auburn is more than a football school.
Jared Harper led the way with 26 points, including the tying basket in regulation and a crucial series of layups in overtime. Bryce Brown added 24 points and Anfernee McLemore came up big in the extra session, helping the Tigers (30-9) set a program record for single-season wins with their 12th straight overall.
“We wanted to make history,” Pearl said. “You have to understand, at Auburn in athletics, we’re not Cinderellas in anything. We’re really, really good in all those other sports. We win championships. Been a long time since men’s basketball has been good.”