2 weeks Ago
ATLANTA — Auburn senior Johni Broome is hard to miss on the court. He’s 6 feet 10 and 240 pounds and the center of gravity the Tigers revolve around on both ends of the floor. But he moves exclusively at his own pace — never sped up, never out of control — often bending the arc of the game in his direction, as opposed to the other way around.
Advertisement It happened on Sunday against Michigan State, the SEC Player of the Year and first-team All-America forward putting on stark display why he is one of the best players in college basketball, leading No. 1 seed Auburn with 25 points and 14 rebounds in a 70-64 victory over the Spartans in the Elite Eight of the South Region to earn a place in the Final Four in San Antonio. It’s why those cheering for the Tigers — in uniform, in the stands or watching from afar — held their collective breath when their star player landed awkwardly midway through the second half .
Composed as always, Broome calmly walked off the floor and into the locker room with 10 minutes, 37 to play, favoring his right elbow and left ankle as his team clung to a 50-40 lead. His absence was felt as much as his presence, evidenced by the roar of relief inside an Auburn-leaning State Farm Arena when Broome emerged from the tunnel and promptly checked back into the game with 5:29 remaining, the Tigers still in front by nine. CBS Sports’ Tracy Wolfson reported that Broome underwent X-rays that came back negative.
Broome’s father, John, said Johni said he heard a pop in his elbow but that everything appeared to be fine upon being checked out. Less than a minute after returning, his wrapped right elbow dangling gingerly, Broome smoothly and purposefully popped out for a 3-point attempt, the left-hander stroking it through the net. It was a quintessential Willis Reed moment and an exclamation point on Auburn’s semifinal destiny.
Johni Broome. Absolute cinema 🙌 He returns from the locker room to a HUGE ovation and immediately knocks down the triple 👏 #MarchMadness @AuburnMBB pic.twitter.
com/pCNSPfCZuV — NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 30, 2025 In what has been a chalk NCAA Tournament, the bracket’s top overall seed advanced to the second Final Four in program history, repeating the 2019 run under coach Bruce Pearl. It marks just the second time since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 that all four No. 1 seeds have reached the Final Four, matching 2008.
Auburn will face Florida, which advanced out of the West Region. Advertisement The Tigers had to topple a pillar of March Madness to get here, staring down a No. 2 seed Michigan State team that reached the Elite Eight on sheer will, led by coach Tom Izzo, seeking his ninth Final Four appearance.
Pearl tried his damndest to play the underdog card on Saturday, placing Izzo and the Spartans on a much-deserved pedestal. It was a preposterous ploy for an Auburn team that has been elite all season, but it wasn’t a pure bluff, either. The Tigers are more talented than Michigan State, but there was a mental barrier to clear for an Auburn group that looked to be losing altitude down the stretch, losing three of its last four before the NCAA Tournament.
It’s a team that advanced the hard way, forced to mount second-half comebacks in rounds two and three, including a nine-point deficit against Michigan in the Sweet 16. And then it had to slay Izzo — Mr. March — and an opponent forged by blunt force, a slasher-film villain that can’t be destroyed.
Auburn pulled it off with Broome in the starring role and a cast of contributing characters. Freshman Tahaad Pettiford had 10 points, the only other Tigers player in double figures on a team that shot 43 percent from the floor and 28 percent from deep. Jaxon Kohler and Jaden Akins led Michigan State with 17 points and 15 points, respectively.
The Spartans were plus-two in the rebounding battle but shot just 34 percent overall. After a slow start against Michigan, the Tigers were all over the Spartans in a hurry, sprinting to a 23-8 lead in the opening 10 minutes. Michigan State stemmed the tide defensively the rest of the half, clawing back to 33-24 at the break, but couldn’t get any closer.
And at no point did MSU have an answer for Broome, who put up 17 points and 11 boards in the first half, his second game in a row with a double-double by halftime. It was enough to weather a second half in which Broome played just 11 minutes and the Spartans outscored Auburn with a flurry of late buckets. Auburn is no Cinderella, but it’s not a blueblood, either.
It’s a football school that Pearl has built into a basketball force during his 11 seasons. And after three consecutive first-weekend exits, he has the Tigers back in the Final Four, a wire-to-wire powerhouse in a season defined by them. Advertisement With the program’s first national championship in reach — a seemingly impossible precipice before Pearl’s arrival — the Tigers will first have to get through Florida, an SEC foe that beat Auburn on its home floor in February in the lone meeting between the two teams.
(Photo: Alex Slitz / Getty Images).
