After a difficult, back-and-forth SEC battle, Auburn basketball came out on top in the final seconds after a tricky road test against South Carolina. Thanks to some great second half defense and some timely baskets, Bruce Pearl and company were able to stay unbeaten in conference play with a 66-63 win.
However, this win came as a cost for Auburn. Star big man Johni Broome went down with a nasty ankle injury during the second half and was helped off the court without putting any pressure on his leg. Broome didn't return to the game, and Auburn fans eagerly awaited an update on their superstar. As it turns out, Broome will be forced to miss some time but will not need surgery for his ankle sprain, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.
“Source: Auburn's Johni Broome has been diagnosed with a non-surgical ankle sprain following an MRI this morning,” Rothstein reported on X, formerly Twitter.
Losing Broome for any amount of time is a huge loss for Auburn, who should be the No. 1-ranked team in the country on Monday after Tennessee's loss to Florida. Broome entered the weekend as the favorite to sweep the National Player of the Year honors after a huge start to the season against top competition. Following the win, Broome is averaging nearly 18 points and 10.7 rebounds per game while blocking 2.7 shots a night.
Broome had one of his worst games of the season against South Carolina before going down with the injury, scoring just six points on 3-for-11 shooting in 24 minutes. He struggled a lot in this matchup with star South Carolina big Collin Murray-Boyles, who finished the day with 25 points and seven rebounds.
Auburn has some tough tests in front of it if Broome is going to be out for a while, which the nature of the injury certainly suggests is a possibility. The Tigers' next game is at home on Tuesday against No. 14 Mississippi State, and they have a blockbuster matchup with current No. 1 Tennessee coming up at the end of the month.
The SEC is one of the deepest conferences in recent memory in college basketball, and Auburn will need all of its top weapons healthy in order to stay at the top of the conference standings. However, Pearl's group has shown that it can still hang in some of these tough conference games even when Broome is sidelined.