Steven Pearl had preached to his team all week about finishing the game, and for the final two minutes on Saturday against Kentucky, it felt like the message had not gotten through.
After a KeShawn Murphy three-pointer put the Tigers up three with 1:47 to go, the Wildcats went on a 6-0 run to take a three-point lead with 18 seconds left. If Auburn had any hopes of making the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers needed a massive response, and quickly.
It started out simple enough, as Tahaad Pettiford, struggling from the outside all game, drove to the basket and got fouled. After making two free throws, Kevin Overton drew an offensive foul to give Auburn the ball back with 14.2 seconds left and down by one.
KeShawn Murphy gave a big thank you to Elyjah Freeman
If there was any time to finish, this was it, and it came from an unlikely source, Elyjah Freeman, who tipped in a missed layup by Murphy with 1.2 seconds left to give the Tigers a much-needed win.
“That was about as physical as I've seen him play offensively, probably,” Pearl said of Freeman. “Had his shoulders down, did a great job putting the ball on the floor and just being aggressive.”
Freeman finished with 11 points, six of those coming in the second half as Keyshawn Hall and Pettiford struggled to find their offensive rhythm.
Murphy, who missed the bunny before Freeman cleaned it up for the win, had the best response to his teammate’s game-winner.
"You saved my a**,” Murphy said to Freeman as they walked off the podium.
Pearl continued to harp on the sophomore guard.
“He just did a really good job of just playing physically, and to be plus-10 and a one-point win, really speaks to his contributions and did a lot of really good things out there defensively, and he was great tonight,” the head coach said. “So that's the Elyjah that we need every game in order for us to beat the best teams on our schedule.”