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Can Michigan beat No. 1 seed Auburn?
Andrew and Tony of “Hail Yes” podcast break down if Michigan has what it takes to knock out Auburn.
Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl credits former player K.T. Harrell, now director of basketball operations for Michigan, with helping lay the foundation for the program’s success.Harrell played for Pearl during Pearl’s first season at Auburn, leading the Tigers to the SEC tournament semifinals in 2015.Auburn and Michigan will face off in the NCAA tournament South region Sweet 16 on Friday.
ATLANTA — At first, Bruce Pearl laughed. Then, the more he reflected, he couldn’t help but cry.
Just outside of Auburn’s locker room at State Farm Arena, the Tigers’ head coach got a question he wasn’t expecting. It was about K.T. Harrell, and the role his shot more than 3,650 days ago played. Nobody knew it at the time, but it would change the course of Auburn basketball.
These days, Harrell is the director of basketball operations for the Michigan Wolverines. But back then, he was a guard on Pearl’s first squad at Auburn, which was in the midst of its sixth straight losing season.
“Through no fault of their own, K.T. and maybe only one or two others were SEC level players,” Pearl told the Free Press on Thursday. “But they knew the way we were recruiting, the expectations we had. … I so terribly wanted them to be a part of our mission. We struggled throughout that year, until the SEC tournament.”
Indeed, on March 13, 2015, down eight with less than three minutes to play, Harrell caught fire for the 13th-seeded Tigers in the SEC quarterfinals.
The SEC’s leading scorer (at 18.5 points a night while hitting 43.5% on 3s) registered 15 consecutive points for the Tigers, including a game-tying 3 from the top of the key to force overtime. He finished with a season-high 29 points and led his team to a 73-70 win and an SEC tourney semifinal berth.
Pearl still jokes LSU…
[ad_2]Source link : https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverines/2025/03/27/kt-harrell-starred-at-auburn-now-building-michigan-basketball/82690059007/
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Publish date : 2025-03-27 20:50:00
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