Bruce Pearl's Tigers got over the hump against Creighton in the Round of 32 with relative ease. Before Auburn defeated the Blue Jays 82-70, they struggled in the first half as a 30+-point favorite against Alabama State.
Bruce Pearl acknowledged those difficulties with the Hornets helping the Tigers come together during the Creighton win.
"We talked a little bit about game 1 and not giving the kind of effort and energy that was required and not really trusting one another...tonight, we put all that behind us and the guys did a phenomenal job on both ends of the floor," Pearl said, per The Next Round.
"Very proud of my team. We played Auburn basketball. We played...acted...prepared like the No. 1 team in the country."
Who does Auburn face next in March Madness?
Auburn now faces Michigan in the Sweet 16, with the winner of Ole Miss/Iowa State and Michigan State/New Mexico on deck in the Elite Eight.
As the Auburn Observer's Pablo Escobarner pointed out, the Tigers' Sweet 16 clash with the Wolverines has many storylines.
"Michigan asst. coach K.T. Harrell played for Bruce Pearl at Auburn. PG Tre Donaldson played for Auburn last season. G Namari Burnett played at Bama. F Danny Wolf played for Yale last season," Escobarner noted.
The main storyline persisting on the Plains is whether or not Pearl is coaching the greatest team in SEC history this side of Billy Donovan, Al Horford, and Joakim Noah's 2006-2007 Florida Gators and John Calipari, Anthony Davis, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist's 2011-12 Kentucky Wildcats.
A dominant win over Creighton may have Auburn in a good place to fulfill that prophecy. Four wins stand in the way of that statement being unquestionable.