PAGE 11 April 2022
Auburn Basketball Falls To Miami
The University of Miami men’s basketball team took down second-seed and top-10-ranked Auburn, 79-61, to earn the Hurricane's fourth Sweet 16 berth in program history. No. 10-seeded Miami led the Tigers, ranked No. 8/7, from start to finish at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, The Hurricanes made six of their first nine shots, while Auburn (28-6, 15-3 SEC) opened 1-of-4 with four turnovers, helping Miami grab a 13-4 edge after just 4:19 of action. The Tigers pulled back within five, but Miami regained its nine-point edge, 23-14, with 7:27 on the clock. At that point, the Hurricanes had five steals and zero turnovers, while holding Auburn to 5-of-19 shooting. Miami eventually took a one-point lead, 33-32, into the locker room after Auburn scored the final five points of the half. It marked the smallest lead of the entire session for the Hurricanes, who led for the final 19:28 of the frame. The Hurricanes scored eight straight points to begin the second half, taking a 41-32 edge with 17:35 to play. Miami went on to take a 14-point advantage, 64-50, with 7:17 left after posting an 11-4 run in just 3:12. Auburn answered with six straight points in 80 seconds to make it 64-56 with 5:55 remaining, but Miami used an 8-2 run to go back up by 14, 72-58, with just 2:13 to play. That eventually became a game-ending 15-5 burst, as the Hurricanes won by 18 points, their largest margin of the game. Miami scored the final seven points in the last 73 seconds. “The second half, we were everywhere. These guys were able to make plays, get to the open court,” said Miami head Coach Larrañaga said. “Auburn is a very high, up- tempo team but we feel very, very comfortable in that environment, as well. These guys ran for layups and made a lot of really good decisions in the open court. I congratulate all of them.” Auburn Sophomore guard KD Johnson and junior forward Jaylin Williams co-led the Tigers with 12 points apiece. Sophomore guard Wendell Green Jr., tallied 11 points and freshman forward Jabari Smith had 10. Smith, a Second Team All-American and presumptive top-three NBA Draft pick, shot just 3-of-16 from the floor,
Jacksonville State's Darin Adams (#23) attempts to shoot over Auburn's Jabari Smith during the opening round of the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, SC. The NCAA tournament appearance was JSU's second in program history. The Gamecocks made five three-points in the first half and led the Tigers 17-11 near the midpoint into the first half. However, Auburn outscored the gamecocks 12-2 to begin the second half and the Tigers held on to win the game 80-61. Adams had eights points for JSU, while Smith paced Auburn with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Photo by Brandon K. Pierce, The Sports Ledger JSU Competes in NCAA Basketball Tournament
Photo by Brandon K. Pierce, The Sports Ledger
Auburn's Wendell Green Jr.
including 1-of-8 from 3-point range, though he did lead all players with 15 rebounds to log a double-double. Auburn sophomore Walker Kessler, a Third Team All- American, scored two points and shot 0-of-6 from the floor. Miami had four players reach double figures in the win. Isaiah Wong led the Hurricanes with 21 points. Senior teammate Kameron McGusty totaled 20 points, while also notching six rebounds, four assists and a game-best four steals. Sixth-year redshirt senior guard Charlie Moore nearly recorded a triple-double, finishing with 15 points, a career- high nine rebounds and a game-best eight assists, adding three steals. Fourth-year junior guard Jordan Miller posted 12 points and three steals for Miami. _Courtesy Miami & Auburn Athletics
Auburn's Sunisa Lee named Regional Gymnast of the Year Freshman Sunisa Lee
of the Auburn gymnastics team has been named the WCGA Regional Gymnast of the Year (Region 4). “Suni has had a fantastic season so far and this award is recognition for what she has done in our region,” Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said. “I’m excited for her and it not only is a huge honor for her, but also for our program. However, in the end no award will be able to quantify how much she has brought to this program.” Lee was named the SEC Freshman of the Year earlier this season and garnered four All-America honors. She was a first team selection in the all-around, bars and beam and was second team on floor. In addition, she was placed on the All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman teams. Lee became Auburn’s first SEC champion since 1994 when she won the conference bars title with a perfect 10.0. Overall, she’s won seven all-around titles this year as well as 10 bars and 34 yards through the uprights. "Our kickers did some good things, and they've kicked really well all spring," Rodriguez said. "That was probably the biggest positive of today. We're kicking with the wind a little bit, but we have a good competition going on, and both of those guys are pretty talented. I feel good about that." As practice winds down and workouts ramp up, leadership is something that Rodriguez expects to switch hands from his coaches to his players this summer. "I never really worry about leadership during practice because that's what the coaches are there to do," he said. "Now going forward in the summer
Photo by Matthew Shannon, Auburn Athletics
Auburn's Sunisa Lee
Photo by Robert Sutton, University of Alabama Notre Dame Ends Alabama's Season in NCAA Tournament Alabama's Jaden Shackelford (5) and JD Davison (3) battle for the ball during the 2022 SEC Tournament against Vanderbilt. The Crimson Tide reached the Men's NCAA basketball tournament, but fell to Notre Dame, 78-64, in the opening round. Shackelford scored 13 points and Davison had 11 points against the Fighting Irish. Keon Ellis paced the Crimson Tide with 16 points. Teammate Juwan Gary had ten points. Cormac Ryan led Notre Dame with 29 points. Blake Wesley had 18 points.
crowns, eight beam titles, three floor titles and one on vault. The St. Paul, Minnesota product became the first Auburn gymnast to record a 10.0 since 2004 and has five on the season so far – two on bars and three on beam. She finished the regular season ranked second nationally in the all-around, workouts, that's where the leadership is going to take place. We have one more practice on Tuesday, and then the summer is when we try to identify the leaders and put them in a position to kind of control the player- ran stuff in the summer." Rodriguez and his staff will continue to build the Gamecocks roster as they gear up for summer classes to begin. With JSU moving from FCS to FBS, its scholarship limit will go up, meaning there is more of an opportunity to bring more players in before fall camp starts at the end of the summer. "Right now we've got about 40 new guys coming in," he said. "And I think by the time it's all said and done in a month, we might be up
while being first nationally on bars and beam. Lee set the Auburn all- around record with a 39.825 and six of her all-around scores rank in the top 10 in program history. She was named SEC Gymnast of the Week three times this year and SEC Freshman of the Week twice. to 50. So half the roster is going to be new coming into camp, but we've got enough good players with us now to have success if they have a great summer." The 2022 season will start in Montgomery against Stephen F. Austin in the nationally televised Montgomery Kickoff on August 27. The schedule will feature four home games and a full slate of ASUN Conference games before the Gamecocks move to Conference USA for the 2023 season. Season tickets are on sale now in the JSU Ticket Office. Fans can purchase tickets by calling 256-782- 8499 or online at www. jsugamecocksports.com/ tickets.
JSU Football Holds Spring Scrimmage The JSU football team
coming over, as well as the cheerleaders. And it was a pretty nice day, but you wouldn't think it because some of the effort wasn't quite what I thought it would be, and I don't know if it was nerves or just thinking too much, but we've had a pretty good spring and have one more practice next week to get some stuff straightened out and then, of course, we will have all summer." The Gamecocks had more big plays on the defensive side of the ball on Saturday, something that has been the story for much of the spring. But that is something Rodriguez said is common at this point and nothing that can't be corrected. "The defense looked
pretty good, but it's hard to evaluate," he added. "We were so gross offensively, it was hard to evaluate if our defense was that good or if our offense was just that bad. There were times today and during the spring where it went back and forth a little bit, which is probably what you'd want it to be. And typically the offense will be further behind because there is a little bit more thinking, but I didn't see anything that we can't fix if the guys will pick up the pace a little." The brightest spot in the scrimmage came from the kicking duo of Alen Karajic and Brenton King. The two combined to go 6-for-6 in field goal tries, with King connecting on kicks of 46, 39 and 50 yards and Karajic putting kicks of 34, 39
held its final scrimmage of the spring on Saturday, April 9, 2022 at Burgess-Snow Field, getting in about 100 plays of live work between the Gamecocks' offensive and defensive units. The Gamecocks practiced in front of an estimated 3,000 fans that included the Marching Southerners, cheerleaders, families and former players, providing an atmosphere that new Jacksonville State head football coach Rich Rodriguez wished his Gamecocks lived up to in the scrimmage. "We had a good atmosphere today," said Rodriguez. "We had a few folks here, and we appreciate the Marching Southerners
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