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By Mallory Mattingly
The No. 1 ranked Auburn Tigers defeated the Michigan State Spartans 70-64 last week, sending the Tigers to the Final Four.
Auburn center, Dylan Cardwell, came up huge again for the Tigers in the Elite Eight. While he only scored five points, but he had six rebounds and two pivotal blocks.
After the win, Cardwell posted a video on his Instagram account of him singing Marvin Sapp’s “Never Would Have Made It.”
“I would have lost it all / But now I see how You were there for me / And I can say / Never would have made it,” he sang.
“Never would have made it without you Lord! FINAL FOUR BABY,” Cardwell wrote in the caption of the video.
Cardwell isn’t the only Auburn Tiger who gave glory to God.
Johni Broome led the Tigers with 25 points and 14 rebounds in the team’s bout against the Spartans.
According to the Auburn Tigers media, Broome had to go to the locker room after a hard hit to the floor at one point during the game. But just minutes later, he returned and hit a clutch three-pointer to give Auburn a 60-48 commanding lead.
After the game, Broome told the media, “All glory to God. When I came back out, when I hit that 3 ball, I called on him again. You’ve got to always call on him. He’s always going to deliver. I just wanted to help my teammates. If that’s coming back out and playing and hitting one shot and grabbing the rebound, I was going to do it.”
Head coach Bruce Pearl talked to the media about what it’s like for him to coach a team that loves God.
Related: Auburn Basketball Star Uses Platform to Share Gospel: Jesus ‘Saves’
“This is a team of faith,” Pearl said in a video posted by Auburn Tigers on Al.com. “Every time they make a three ball, they’re calling God.”
“I’m getting emails and I’m getting voicemail messages from parents of 8-year-old girls going, ‘My daughter banged her first three and she called God.’ And the parents were so excited about it,” he continued.
The coach especially appreciates that he can hold his team to a high standard, on and off the court.
“Now, that also gives me an opportunity as a teacher to say, ‘Okay, listen, if we’re going to call God and we’re going to do that, then we can’t act this way or that way,'” Pearl said.
Because of that type of coaching and teaching, the Auburn Tigers have graduated 46 student-athletes in 11 years. That may not seem like a lot, but typically elite basketball players play one year of college basketball and then elect for the NBA draft.
The formula that Coach Pearl uses is “discipline, and accountability. Plus, the faith factor is really what the chemistry of our program is all about,” he concluded.
Tune in on Saturday, April 5 at 6:09 p.m. to watch the Tigers take on the University of Florida. If the Tigers win, they will play for a National Championship the next week.
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