Auburn Player Motivated by Tennessee Prank Before the Game, Records Game-High 16 Points

Johni Broome
Auburn forward Johni Broome shows a Tennessee drawing that was left on his car before the game on Saturday. Photo via Johni Broome on Instagram.

Auburn forward Johni Broome had a bit of extra motivation playing Tennessee on Saturday night.

Ahead of the top six SEC showdown in Auburn, Broome posted a video of a prank someone had pulled prior to the game. The video shows slips of paper with Power T drawings under his car’s windshield wipers while a set of plastic forks were arranged in a T formation on the grass in front of his car.

Broome had missed the Tigers’ previous two games with an ankle injury but said that he was ready to go after seeing that.

“Actually, it did,” Broome said on if the prank lit the fuse for him before the game. “Woke up this morning and I come over to my car and I see two Tennessee signs and, like, pitchforks in like a T logo. So, at that moment, I knew I was playing no matter what, you know what I’m saying?”

Broome went on to explain what he saw further.

“It was like two posters of Ts, the Tennessee logo, and then in my yard they had the plastic forks you buy from Walmart, they just stuck them all like a T.”

More from RTI: What Rick Barnes Said About Controversial Call Against Tennessee In Loss At Auburn

Broome, a national player of the year contender, suffered an ankle injury on Jan. 11 against South Carolina and missed the Tigers’ next two games as he healed up. The 6-foot-10 senior forward returned to the court against Tennessee and proved to be a difference-maker in the low-scoring contest. Broome recorded a game-high 16 points and 13 rebounds on 7-of-19 shooting.

“There was no doubt in our mind he was going to play,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said after the game. “We knew he was going to play. So we prepared all week for him to be there.”

Broome and No. 1 Auburn defeated No. 6 Tennessee in a back-and-forth slugfest on Saturday night. The Tigers ended up getting the 53-51 win over the Volunteers after Miles Kelly hit a clutch three-pointer with just 33 seconds left to regain the lead for Auburn.

Tennessee moves to 17-3 on the season with the loss but still has some big opportunities ahead. The Vols have three straight ranked matchups on the horizon including No. 9 Kentucky on Tuesday and No. 5 Florida on Saturday, both games taking place in Knoxville.

Tennessee will host Kentucky in an SEC border battle at 7:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday evening in the Food City Center.

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