March Madness 2025: No. 1 Auburn's big run powers Tigers into Elite Eight with 78-65 win over No. 5 Michigan

Yahoo

29-03-2025

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - MARCH 28: Tahaad Pettiford #0 and Denver Jones #2 of the Auburn Tigers react during the second half against the Michigan Wolverines in the South Regional Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at State Farm Arena on March 28, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by)
(Alex Slitz via Getty Images)
No. 1 Auburn used a dominating stretch in the second half to beat No. 4 Michigan 78-65 and advance to the Elite Eight.
The Tigers went on a 20-2 run to flip a 48-39 Michigan lead into a three-point margin for the Tigers. Michigan led by nine with 12:26 to go but found itself down by that same margin just under five minutes later.
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The run was fueled by Denver Jones, who scored eight straight points as Auburn built its lead to multiple possessions. Jones hit two 3-pointers and a layup on three straight possessions to give the Tigers that 59-50 advantage.
The Tigers got out ahead of Michigan before Johni Broome and Chad Baker-Mazara each picked up their fourth fouls of the game. With the two on the bench, Tahaad Pettiford followed Jones' flurry with eight straight points of his own to give the Tigers a 13-point lead with under five minutes to go.
Auburn will meet No. 2 Michigan State at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday for a chance to go to the Final Four. The Tigers' win prevented Michigan and Michigan State from meeting in the men's NCAA tournament for the first time ever.
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Before the run, Auburn hardly looked like the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament and a lot like the first No. 1 seed to bow out of the NCAA tournament. The two teams combined to commit 18 turnovers in the first half and no, those turnovers were not a product of stellar defense. The first 20 minutes was a comedy of unforced errors by both teams that even continued into the second half.
Broome finished the game with 21 points and 16 rebounds. The Tigers dominated Michigan on the glass and outrebounded the Wolverines by 15.
The SEC has half the Elite Eight
The SEC has been head and shoulders above the rest of college basketball this season and has backed it up over the course of the NCAA tournament. The conference set a men's tournament record with 14 teams in the 68-team field and four of them are still playing.
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And yes, it's possible that all four could make the Final Four. Along with Auburn, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama are in the Elite Eight. All four of those schools were among the top eight seeds when the bracket was revealed and both the Tigers and Gators will be favored in their Elite Eight matchups.
No conference has ever swept the Final Four field. The closest a conference has ever come to locking out the Final Four came in 1985 when the Big East had three of the four teams in the semifinals.
Auburn is a win away from its first Final Four trip since 2019 when the Tigers made it as a No. 5 seed after knocking off No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Kentucky during the tournament's second weekend. That's the only Final Four appearance in school history and was only the second time the Tigers had made the Elite Eight.
Michigan, meanwhile, is out of the NCAA tournament in the Sweet 16 in its first tournament appearance since 2022. The Wolverines have advanced to the Sweet 16 in each of their last six tournament appearances dating back to a first-round loss as a No. 11 seed in 2016.