WATCH: Jabari Smith slam caps impressive opening win for Auburn basketball
Auburn cruised to a win in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament over Jacksonville State, taking home the 80-61 victory on Friday. Freshman Jabari Smith ended the game on an extremely high note. Smith grabbed a rebound at the top of the key, dribbled in, and finished with a poster dunk to put an emphasis on Auburn’s impressive win.
The dunk left essentially everyone in attendance speechless, including his coaches and teammates on the bench.
Following Auburn’s NCAA Tournament opening round win, Walker Kessler and Bruce Pearl talked to Tracy Wolfson of CBS on the court. Fresh off of Smith’s impressive dunk, it’s safe to say that Kessler was speechless.
“I mean, enough said,” Kessler said after a long pause. “I mean he’s such an athlete, I wish I could do that.”
Pearl had a great response to the play as he stood next to Kessler after the game.
“You can do that,” Pearl told Kessler. “Here’s my reaction. You can’t say anything.”
Kessler, Pearl on Auburn’s NCAA Tournament opening win
The dunk at the end capped a 20-point, 14-rebound game for Smith. Kessler nearly posted a triple double, posting 13 points, 10 rebounds, and nine blocks. When asked about his success in Auburn’s win to open the NCAA Tournament, Kessler heaped all of the praise onto his teammates.
“It’s because of my teammates and my coach,” Kessler said of his performance in the win. “They put so much belief into me and I couldn’t be here without them.”
After a hot start, Jacksonville State cooled down. The Gamecocks shot 31.1% from the field and 32% from three-point range. Auburn had ten blocks and forced eight turnovers, also out-rebounding Jacksonville State 50-32. If Auburn continues that level of play, Pearl knows that the sky is the limit.
“We talk about defense and rebounding being able to win championships,” Pearl said. “Again, it’s the reason we won the SEC (regular season). You can control your destiny if you’ll guard like that and fly around. And of course you’ve got Walker back there cleaning up all of our mess. I thought our guys really did play with a great amount of energy. And that’s what I want.”
Auburn will face the winner of USC-Miami in the Round of 32.