Auburn players explain how their first-round win was a return to form

Although it captured the SEC regular season championship and was the No. 1 seed for the SEC Tournament, Auburn didn’t live it up to its expectations and failed to accomplish its goal of winning the league tournament title. Instead, the Tigers suffered an upset loss to eighth-seeded Texas A&M in the quarterfinal round to cut their time significantly shorter in Tampa.

Despite its disappointment in the SEC Tournament, Auburn still received a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament and is back on track – opening March Madness with an 80-61 win over No. 15 Jacksonville State in the first round and now getting set for a second-round matchup with No. 10 Miami on Sunday night.

After the way they’ve bounced back, the Tigers look to be a legitimate contender for the national championship – but they’ll have to continue playing at a high level. While meeting with the media following the win over Jacksonville State, Auburn players Jabari Smith, Zep Jasper and Wendell Green Jr. explained how the team has returned to form.

“Definitely helps confidence,” Smith said. “Just seeing us make shots, seeing us play with that joy that we had to start the season, that chip on our shoulder, just proving to everybody that we’re here. I feel like, when we’re playing like that, it’s hard to beat us. You know, having fun, playing defense like that and just playing together, that’s when we’re at our best. So it was fun to get back to that.”

From Green’s perspective, he feels that Auburn hadn’t played with its usual energy level as of late, but the Jacksonville State game was a return to normalcy.

“Like yesterday after the game, we’re in the locker room talking, and we were like that was fun,” Green said. “I feel like we hadn’t had fun out there in a few games. So just going back, doing what you’re doing, not worrying about anything else but just going out there and having fun and making the right play for the team. So we’re getting back to that, and I feel like the past two games we’ve gotten back to that.”

Following up on Smith and Green’s comments, Jasper made a strong statement – saying that the Tigers are in the NCAA Tournament to win it, and that is their ultimate goal.

“It’s win or go home,” Jasper said. “We’ve got nothing to lose. The only thing we came here for is to win a national championship. It’s no doubt we should get back to the basketball we started the season off with.”

No. 2 Auburn and No. 10 Miami are scheduled to tipoff at 7:45 p.m. ET on Sunday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. TruTV will be carrying the national broadcast.