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Marilyn McManus

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Apologies for the lateness of this post. I was just too tired to do it on Monday night, then was sick on Tuesday. I don’t think it was solely due to the performance of the Auburn Tigers, but it sure didn’t help matters. Anyway, better late than never. (Sort of)

The Auburn Tigers made an extremely early exit from the NCAA Tournament on Monday, thanks to a total inability to put the basketball into the basket and inspired play by a bunch of Scarlet Knights with a little bit of a chip on their shoulders–and a home-court advantage. Rutgers, with a season average of 63 points per game, is capable of scoring but is generally better known for their defensive game. They displayed both on Monday night, eliminating the Tigers 80-52 behind 27 points by junior guard Epiphanny Prince, along with 5 rebounds and 6 assists.

Three teammates joined her in double figures: senior center Kia Vaughn with 15, junior guard Brittany Ray and senior forward Heather Zurich with 12 apiece. Sophomore guard Khadijah Rushdan had a team-leading 9 rebounds, along with 9 points and 6 assists. In other words, Rutgers brought a total team effort to this game, with nearly all of the players involved performing at or above their usual level of performance–which is exactly what every coach is looking for, when they take the floor in the NCAA Tournament.

The same cannot be said for the Auburn Tigers. Most of the Tigers performed below their expectations and, as a team, shot the ball horribly. I was not able to watch this game in it’s entirety; ESPN decreed that in my geographical region, we would watch the UNC vs. Purdue matchup–and it was a good game. But it means that I must rely on the opinions of others who watched that game, my analysis of the box score and the clips that I was able to track down for the reason WHY the Tigers were so soundly beaten on Monday night.

A couple of things stand out: Rutgers had more than double the number of assists the Tigers got (and SEC assist leader Whitney Boddie had fewer than half her usual total of 8.2) and the Scarlet Knights took twice as many free throws as the Tigers (24 attempts, hitting 17 for Rutgers vs. only 12 shots for Auburn, though they hit 10 of those.) But the real problem was shooting. A large part of the credit for that goes, of course, to the Rutgers defense. Still, though, the Tigers took 18 more shots at the basket than did the Scarlet Knights, but with a shooting percentage under 30% for the game, while allowing Rutgers to hit nearly 54% of their shots–the Tigers were doomed. They fell behind early, 4-22, putting themselves in a position to play catchup for the rest of the game. Though they were able to cut the lead down to only 10 points in the second half, the Tigers appeared beaten well before the final buzzer sounded. Prince was able to take the ball the length of the court, at one point, passing every Tiger player on the court without being deterred from making a layup. From what little of the action I actually saw, the Tigers seemed a bit listless and flat-footed.

DeWanna Bonner led the Tigers with 17 points and 9 rebounds, while Whitney Boddie had 10 points and 3 assists. Both were playing in their final game for Auburn, along with fellow seniors Sherell Hobbs and Trevesha Jackson.

I am one of those who thought that Rutgers was a bubble team that got a large break to get into this tournament, with a mediocre won-loss record (compared to many others in the field of 64, as well as some teams that were left out of it) and a dubious record in regards to "quality wins." However, I can’t argue with what they did with the opportunity to extend their season. If this were a closer game, I might even take issue with the whole "lower seed hosting a higher seed" hullabaloo, but I don’t think we can credit their home floor with 28 points worth of advantage. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights simply beat up on the #2 seeded Auburn Tigers, who end their season with a record of 30-4.