The Auburn Plainsman
THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019 MEN’S BASKETBALL
‘Get over it’
PAGE 9
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Pearl speaks out on controversial no-call By NATHAN KING Sports Editor
Bryce Brown was trying to foul. The senior guard swiped at Virginia’s Ty Jerome as Jerome brought the ball up the floor with Auburn leading 62-60. The officials swallowed their whistles and let them play on. Jerome then lost the ball off his own foot, but instead of stopping his dribble and making a pass, he picked the ball up and advanced to the frontcourt. The rest is history. On a last-second 3-point attempt, Virginia’s Kyle Guy was fouled by Auburn’s Samir Doughty. Guy sank all three freebies to lift the Cavaliers to the title game and send the Tigers packing. The NCAA issued a statement on the foul call against Doughty, but most fans realized that it was the correct call because Doughty took away Guy’s landing spot and bumped him as he shot. Fans wanted the double-dribble addressed. The statement for that never came. Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl, along with the rest of his players, were gracious in defeat after the game, blaming only themselves, not the officials.
“(Officials) are going to make the best decision to the best of their ability,” Doughty said. “... He made the right call if that’s the call he called.” Brown came off the floor calling for the NCAA to get “new refs,” but he said in the locker room that was the wrong thing to say in the heat of the moment. “That’s not where we lost the game,” Brown said. “We had a few mental lapses throughout the game.” On a Monday taping of ESPN’s “Get Up!”, Pearl joined to discuss the game’s ending further — specifically, the double-dribble. He had one overarching message about the play: Get over it. “There is human error involved in the game,” Pearl said. “Kids make mistakes. Coaches make mistakes. Yes, officials will make mistakes — that’s part of the game. Get over it. “Sometimes they’re going to go your way, sometime’s they’re not.” Jerome admitted Sunday that he did double-dribble. “I knew they weren’t gonna call double-dribble after they let that one go,” Jerome told USA Today. “... It’s hard to be a ref. They miss a lot. So you’ve got to play on.”
MADISON OGLETREE / PHOTO EDITOR
Bryce Brown (2) defends during UVA vs. Auburn on Saturday, April 6, 2019, in Minneapolis, Minn.
Auburn finishes season top-5 By NATHAN KING Sports Editor
After its best season ever, Auburn is a top5 team. In the final coaches poll, released Tuesday morning, Auburn is ranked No. 5 in the nation behind No. 1 Virginia, No. 2 Texas Tech, No. 3 Michigan State and No. 4 Duke. Auburn entered the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 18 in the poll before its nation-leading 12-game winning streak propelled the Tigers to the program’s first Final Four in program history. The Tigers were No. 14 in the AP poll before entering March Madness, but the Associated Press does not release a post-national championship poll. This is Auburn’s best finish in program history since the coaches poll began publishing a
post-national championship top 25 in 199394. After a 2-4 start in SEC play spelled frustration on The Plains, Auburn went on to win its first SEC Tournament title since 1985. The Tigers earned a 5-seed in the Midwest Regional of the NCAA Tournament, holding off New Mexico State in a thriller before becoming the first team in college basketball history to beat the three winningest programs in the sport — Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky — consecutively en route to a Final Four showdown with would-be national champion Virginia. Auburn fell in the final seconds to Virginia after the Cavaliers’ Kyle Guy was fouled by Samir Doughty on a 3-point attempt. The Tigers finished the season at 30-10, their first 30-win campaign in school history.
FINAL COACHES POLL MADISON OGLETREE / PHOTO EDITOR
Bruce Pearl during UVA vs. Auburn on Saturday, April 6, 2019, in Minneapolis, Minn.
1 Virginia
3 Michigan St.
5 Auburn
2 Texas Tech
4 Duke
6 Gonzaga
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