With just over six minutes left for his team to save its season on Sunday night, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl made an eye-opening decision.
He substituted for Walker Kessler with the second-seeded Tigers trailing by 10, benching the all-SEC 7-footer to go with a smaller lineup.
While 10th-seeded Miami had to wait a little while longer to celebrate a 79-61 victory and an improbable berth in the Sweet 16, Pearl’s desperation move was the equivalent of him raising a white flag. In a second-round NCAA men's tournament matchup between two wildly different teams, the Hurricanes’ superior guards had already trumped Auburn’s size advantage.