"It hurts but we gotta learn from it": Johni Broome reveals motivational message to Auburn amid shaky stretch going into March Madness

The Auburn Tigers, led by Johni Broome, couldn't finish the job on Saturday. Coming in as the top seed of the conference, the Tigers fell to a 70-65 defeat against the Tennessee Volunteers in the semifinal of the SEC tournament.

This was tough for Broome, who is playing his fifth and final year of college basketball under Bruce Pearl. Auburn has been in shaky form recently, suffering losses to Texas A&M and Alabama this month. However, Broome is now preparing his teammates for the bigger goal ahead.

During the post-game presser of their semifinal loss, the senior shared his message to his teammates:

"Well, now we're looking ahead to the March Madness tournament. You know, the first two we dropped, we was looking forward to the SEC tournament, we let this one drop. It hurts but we gotta learn from it. We going to watch film, and then we're going to try to get better, going into the March Madness." (1:55)

Broome then commented on what makes facing the gutsy Volunteers a unique challenge:

"They take pride in their defense, they make it hard to score. Yeah, a gritty team," he said. (3:20)

In the loss, Broome dropped a game-high 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, seven rebounds, one assist and two steals in 35 minutes of action.

The Auburn Tigers strike out on SEC Tournament championship repeat

With their elimination from the 2025 SEC Tournament, the Auburn Tigers lost their chance at a title repeat. They did win the conference regular season championship this season though, which the Tigers didn't clinch in their last campaign.

Bruce Pearl was asked if there was any panic in the program following the loss, and he replied:

"Man, I'm really glad you asked me that question. We lost to Alabama, Tennessee, and at Texas A&M ... Yeah we're panicked. That's a real softball.

"We lost to some great teams," Pearl said. "We lost at the buzzer against Alabama. We had possessions here. Yeah, we’re panicked. I can hardly wait till next weekend to start playing again. Let’s get to Sunday, find out where we’re going, find out who we’re playing and let’s get back to work. I’m looking forward, not back."

Bruce Pearl's squad now turns their attention to the NCAA national tournament later this month, where a national championship is the ultimate goal. While the loss against Tennessee will sting, it could add fuel to Auburn's fire.