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Auburn

Hugh Freeze reacts to being compared to Michael Jordan's flu game after beating Kentucky

Screen Shot 2024-05-28 at 9.09.17 AMby: Kaiden Smith10/29/24kaiden__smith
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Prior to Auburn‘s game Saturday against Kentucky, reports surfaced that Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze was battling an illness. Freeze did not travel with the team on Friday, instead arriving in Lexington on Saturday morning to lead the his team to a much needed win.

The Tigers’ 24-10 victory this past weekend was their first SEC win of the season. Given the end result, a handful of Auburn players coined as Freeze’s ‘flu game,’ referencing Michael Jordan‘s iconic Game 5 performance in the 1997 NBA Finals where he scored 38 points while battling an illness.

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“I’m just glad they had fun with it, and it did make me feel better for sure,” Freeze admitted on Monday.

Freeze’s own “flu game” helped Auburn avoid a fifth straight loss in his second season at the helm, despite a slow start having faced three straight-ranked opponents prior to Saturday’s win.

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ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel reported that Freeze was potentially suffering from food poisoning last week similar to Jordan in 1997. But Freeze revealed that winning was best medicine for whatever ailment he was facing over the weekend.

“I probably would have felt awful if we hadn’t won it, but did feel better,” Freeze added. “They can call it whatever game they want if we win, I don’t really care, but I’m glad they had some fun with it for sure.”

Saturday was Auburn’s best defensive performance since Week 1 against Alabama A&M, holding the Wildcats to just 10 points and 224 yards of total offense while posting 500 yards themselves. It’s momentum the Tigers will look to carry into their home matchup this weekend against a Vanderbilt team led by quarterback Diego Pavia, who Freeze has already admitted this week has made him sick in past with his performances against his teams.