Bruce Pearl didn’t keep his composure as Auburn tried to give away the win in their first round NCAA Tournament game vs. New Mexico State.
For nearly four agonizing minutes, the Auburn faithful watched in sheer horror as their team committed untimely fouls and turnovers, before nearly escaping into Round 2 thanks to New Mexico State’s last-second airball.
Those four minutes certainly took its toll on Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, who looked like he was about to collapse on the sideline while watching his youngsters nearly choke the game away. Alas, Pearl was able to get his color back, Auburn advanced thanks to a Carlton Banks-like airball, and the Tigers now look like a sure-fire loser in Round 2 against either Kansas or Northeastern (yes, I’m questioning if Auburn can beat Northeastern).
When Auburn was going on its choke-fest, Twitter users near and far were letting the Tigers have it, and if they would have lost, it would have been very possible that Twitter would have crashed for the rest of the day.
But, it didn’t, and we round up the best tweets from Auburn’s near-collapse against NMSU. Grab some popcorn and enjoy.
Bruce Pearl on the final moments: "My heart rate? It wasn't beating. I was probably legally dead at that point."
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) March 21, 2019
(I actually thought that Bruce Pearl was going to strip. We didn’t need that image in our minds today.)
Bruce Pearl is going to celebrate by committing some NCAA violations.
— Josh Starkey (@starkeeey) March 21, 2019
Obviously cashed in too much luck with the Minnesota win to let Auburn off easy
— Tyler St. Clair (@tk_stclair) March 21, 2019
Has a team ever deserved to lose a game more than Auburn there???
— MoneyLine_AG (@MoneyLine_AG) March 21, 2019
(I think you’re on to something, MoneyLine.)
Auburn almost shattered my bracket
— Tone (@antonio___ayala) March 21, 2019
(If it wasn’t for Florida State doing their thing against Vermont, this would have been a bracket buster for me.)
Oh, and let us throw some Twitter shade NMSU’s way:
I still hate New Mexico State pic.twitter.com/LWJn2dShkK
— Jesse Parker (@5Jparker) March 21, 2019
(The hate from LOBO Nation is really real in New Mexico.)