The final score made the Auburn Tigers 78-65 win over the Michigan Wolverines look comfortable. It was anything but comfortable for the No. 1 Tigers who trailed 48-39 with 12:26 left in the second half.

A 34-8 run by the Tigers after that point turned the game around and punched Auburn’s ticket to the Elite Eight.

Questions have surrounded this Tigers’ team since convincingly clinching the SEC championship with two games left in the season. They dropped their final two games and were a second-round out in the SEC Tournament.

They dispatched both Alabama State and Maryland without playing their best ball, and they were in danger of being the first (and only) No. 1 seed to be eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.

Then head coach Bruce Pearl called a time out, and things came to a boil for the players who exchanged heated words with one another on the sidelines. Pearl let them air it out before bringing them back together.

“We’re brothers at the end of the day,” said player of the year candidate Johni Broome. “Brothers going to bump heads. Everybody on this — that has Auburn on wants to win, and sometimes to win you’ve got to go through some adversity.”

Broome highlighted the relationship he and his teammates have with Pearl. With few exceptions, it’s a mature team, and Pearl knew an airing of grievances would be good for his struggling squad.

“Coach has confidence in us to be able to — we’re a player-led team sometimes,” said Broome. “A couple guys said what we wanted to say, and you’ve got to listen to what your teammate has to say. After that, you shake it off and go out there and play hard for the coach, for Coach Pearl.”

Pearl smiled as he heard one of his team leaders describe the exchange on the sidelines.

“The deal was we turned the ball over a little bit,” said Pearl. “We made some mistakes, and I let them kind of jaw at each other a little bit and then go, ‘Hey, man, we’re good. We’re in a great spot. You guys are just pushing each other. I love the energy. I love the pace. Just slow down a little bit with the ball. We’re just rushing.'”

It was the catalyst that turned the game around for the Tigers and could be the catalyst to win them their first-ever NCAA Tournament Championship. The Auburn Tigers earned the No. 1 overall seed over the course of the regular season playing the toughest schedule in the country. They hadn’t played that way in almost a month.