LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Auburn freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford drove down the middle of the defense, hit a floater and waved goodbye to nobody in particular at Rupp Arena on Saturday night.
In the moment, it was a salutation that suggested the top-seeded Tigers were about to knock 9-seed Creighton out of the NCAA tournament, an outcome finalized a few minutes later in an 82-70 victory in a second-round matchup.
But Pettiford's wave could be redirected toward all the knocks Auburn has faced in recent weeks and years. The Tigers entered this year's tourney as the No. 1 overall seed but had lost three of four games entering the postseason. They had a relatively uninspiring performance against 16-seed Alabama State on Thursday and trailed Creighton at halftime Saturday.
But a second half that featured a strong defensive showing and Pettiford's burst off the bench meant Auburn had a rebuttal for the questions surrounding the team.
"We never really listened to what folks had to say about us," senior forward Johni Broome said. "We knew that what we had in this group, we'll be able to make a run and if we played how we played [Thursday] night, we're going to make it out of the first [weekend]."
Broome, the SEC Player of the Year, was limited to eight points and 12 rebounds on 4-of-13 shooting. But there were plenty of others who picked up the slack for the Tigers (30-5). Pettiford scored a game-high 23 points, including 16 in the second half. Senior forward Chad Baker-Mazara had 17 points despite missing most of the second half after taking a hard fall on a drive to the basket. Senior guard Denver Jones added 15 points.
Creighton (25-11) led by two at halftime and was in the game until Auburn went on a massive run. During the game-defining stretch, Auburn scored 20 of the game's 26 points to open a 14-point lead with 6:20 left. As much as Auburn was clicking offensively, the defense clamped down in the second half.
In the opening 20 minutes, Creighton senior guard Steven Ashworth and freshman forward Jackson McAndrew combined for 23 of the Bluejays' 37 points. Creighton was 9-of-14 shooting behind the 3-point arc. After the break, Auburn took away easy looks on the perimeter.
Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said the activity of the team's big men on Creighton's shooters and an uptick in physicality helped slow the Bluejays.
"I would say fatigue could have been a factor," Pearl said, "in the sense that the way we guard makes Creighton work really hard to get open and get looks. It does take its toll a little bit."
The Tigers turn their attention to 5-seed Michigan in the South Regional in Atlanta.
For Auburn senior Dylan Cardwell, this season's run and the breakthrough into the second round was years in the making. On a team filled with transfers, Cardwell could point across the locker room at those who were on the roster for the previous March shortcomings. Cardwell said this year's group set the mark for aiming higher than previous years.
"Last year, we were content with the SEC tournament championship," Cardwell told ESPN. "Now it's like, hey, those don't mean anything. We won the SEC regular season [this year]. We didn't even celebrate."
The same couldn't be said after Saturday's win over Creighton. Pettiford was gently teased by Broome and Jones for not wishing his mom a happy birthday until the end of their news conference. Cardwell could barely get through a couple of sentences before laughing at his teammates in the locker room. It was a team enjoying some relief after finally shaking off old pitfalls.
"This is more of a fresh win, for real," Cardwell said. "I hope it gives us one of those moments where we just get hot and it propels us to a nice run."