Auburn knocked out Michigan, takes aim at Michigan State: ‘It’s kind of funny’

ATLANTA — Bruce Pearl won’t be welcome in the state of Michigan anytime soon if his Auburn team wins on Sunday.

Auburn beat Michigan on Friday in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. The Tigers will take on Michigan State on Sunday in the Elite Eight.

“It’s kind of funny,” Auburn forward Chad Baker-Mazara said. “My dad actually told me that yesterday. He was like, ‘Man, you just can’t get rid of Michigan.’ It is funny though that we get to play Michigan and Michigan State.”

It is unusual, as Michigan and Michigan State have rarely, if ever, been placed in the same region. Some Tigers had thought about the coincidence; others had not before it was mentioned during interviews on Saturday.

“It’s kind of crazy that it was Michigan, now Michigan State,” Chris Jones said. “At the same time, these are great teams that are still left. It’s going to be these kind of name brands moving forward.”

“It’s kind of funny that we got two Michigan Big Ten schools in our route, but it doesn’t matter,” Dylan Cardwell said.

On Friday night inside State Farm Arena, as Auburn warmed up before facing Michigan, some Michigan State fans were encouraging the Tigers.

“They were right there just wishing we beat them,” Denver Jones recalled with a laugh. “Seeing that rivalry, that competitiveness, it made me think of the Auburn-Alabama rivalry.”

Never mind that Michigan State swept Michigan in the regular season and that Auburn is the No. 1 overall seed.

The Tigers beat Michigan 78-65 and wasted no time showing their conference pride.

Pearl, the head coach, led an “S-E-C!” chant in his on-court postgame interview on CBS. “BP is a prideful guy,” said starting guard Miles Kelly. “We’re the best team in the SEC, and that’s something that he takes pride in.”

Baker-Mazara said some people still aren’t recognizing the SEC as the best conference in basketball. (These people definitely weren’t on the NCAA Tournament selection committee that awarded the league a record 14 bids.)

“I always say it just means more,” he said, referencing (perhaps unintentionally) the conference’s slogan.

There’s no denying the league’s success in this year’s event. Seven SEC teams reached the Sweet 16, with one reaching the final in each region. Florida advanced to the Final Four on Saturday night, while Alabama lost to Duke. Tennessee will take on Houston on Sunday.

Multiple Auburn players called conference play a “gauntlet.” It’s a term that could be applied to the Big Ten, too, a league that got eight teams in the Dance, all of which won at least one game. Michigan, Purdue, and Maryland reached the Sweet 16. Michigan State is the last team standing.

Players on both sides of the Auburn-Michigan State matchup said they were rooting for their fellow league members but more focused on themselves.

If Michigan State can pull off the upset, it could mean four different conferences represented in San Antonio for the Final Four. And it would prevent Auburn from leaving Atlanta with a sweep of the Michigan schools.

Auburn’s Kelly didn’t care about his team’s matchups. “They’re all just teams we have to beat to get to the national championship,” he said. “So I’m not really thinking about their in-state rivalries and stuff like that.

“It was Michigan who was in our way before, now it’s Michigan State and we gotta come in and handle business.”

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