Top-seeded Auburn basketball used a disappointing Selection Sunday result to fuel a five-game run in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), ending its season with a 92-86 nail-biting overtime win over No. 1 seed Tulsa in the championship round on Sunday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Tigers led by 21 in the first half, but a tale of two halves forced them to win it in overtime. The win marked Auburn’s first-ever NIT Championship.
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Another NIT contest, another strong opening half
Much like the Tigers’ last game against Illinois State in the NIT semifinals, Auburn put together another strong first half.
Scoring 48 points on a 52% clip from the field, it was the Tigers’ defense that gave them a 17-point edge (48-31) at the intermission. Auburn held Tulsa to a 2-of-15 start from the field as the Golden Hurricane went scoreless from the field for nearly nine minutes.
Auburn then saw a trio of starters – Keyshawn Hall, Kevin Overton and Elyjah Freeman – go to the bench after accumulating a pair of fouls each. With that, Tulsa found its stride and worked its way up to a 38% mark from the field with a 13-5 run behind David Green’s 10 points to cut the Tigers’ lead to 13.
But a 9-4 close to the half for Auburn gave it a 17-point edge going into the final 20 minutes.
Tahaad Pettiford (15) and Overton (14) combined for 29 points while Filip Jovic was the energizer with eight points and four assists, marking a season-high in the first half.
Sloppy start to the second half gives Tulsa life.
It was a tale of two halves for Auburn on Sunday night.
After a fairly even start for the first four minutes – Tulsa held just an 8-7 scoring advantage at the under-16 in the second half – the momentum swiftly shifted into the hands of the Golden Hurricane.
After the under-16, Tulsa burst for a 14-2 run in a near four-minute span, hitting five consecutive shots to cut the Tigers’ lead to eight. The Golden Hurricane extended their run to 16-2 before Pettiford snapped it with a pair of free throws.
At the under-12 timeout, Tulsa extended its run to 18-2, connecting on seven of its last eight shots while tying the game at 61 apiece after Overton’s foul before the media timeout was upgraded to a Flagrant I, ultimately allowing Tulsa to take control after being down by 21 points in the first half.
With Auburn hitting two of its last 11 shots at the next media timeout, (name) Barnstable was fouled on a three to give Tulsa a 4-point edge and ultimately extending its run to 29-8 over the last 10 minutes of game time.
Auburn answered with a 6-0 run to surge ahead by two points with nearly four minutes remaining, but Tulsa answered with a 7-3 run in the closing minutes, forcing Auburn to hit a last-second 3-pointer in hopes of sending it to overtime.
And Overton delivered
Auburn trailed by three points with eight seconds remaining after Freeman connected on the second of a pair of free throw attempts.
The Tigers forced a 5-second violation on Tulsa’s ensuing inbounds play, giving them a chance to look from beyond the arc on a baseline inbound attempt.
Overton floated to the corner and found the net to even things at 78 for an extra five minutes of play.
Auburn wins it in overtime
After a lethargic 18-ish minutes in the second half, Auburn played like a team inspired to cut down the nets in the final five minutes of play.
Auburn outscored Tulsa 14-8 in the overtime period with Overton, Pettiford and Sebastian Williiams-Adams scoring eight apiece, highlighted by an emphatic breakaway slam by Pettiford to give Auburn its first NIT Championship ever.
Overton capped off a prolific scoring run in the NIT with a game-high 26 points and five triples, with Pettiford adding 24 points, four threes and eight assists.
Foul trouble haunts the Tigers
Auburn was in serious trouble at the end of regulation after Hall and Jovic each fouled out.
Hall fouled out with 2:03 remaining, scoring 11 points and 12 rebounds before Jovic fouled out with 18 seconds remaining, ending his night with 12 points.
Tulsa shot 19 of its 32 free throw attempts in the second half, connecting on 16 of its 26 total makes from the line. Auburn fouled the Golden Hurricane 21 times.
The foul trouble began in the first half with a trio of Tigers (mentioned above) having to sit with a pair of fouls as Tulsa gained some steam. Five Tigers ended their night with multiple fouls and four ended with three or more.
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