Johni Broome was admittedly “starstruck” two years ago when he got his first taste of March Madness.

Then just a freshman at Morehead State, Broome and his team — a 14-seed in the field — saw their season end in a 17-point loss to fourth-seeded West Virginia in the opening round in Indianapolis.

“The moment was maybe a little too big,” Broome said, looking back on that experience.

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That wasn’t the case Thursday night at Legacy Arena, where Broome got his first taste of the NCAA Tournament since his freshman season. After just missing the field a year ago when Morehead State lost in the OVC tournament title game, Broome made an emphatic return to the Big Dance and put up a postseason line that hasn’t been seen from an SEC player in more than a decade.

Broome came up big for ninth-seeded Auburn in its 83-75 win against eighth-seeded Iowa in the opening round. The transfer big man scored a team-high 19 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked five shots in a performance that head coach Bruce Pearl simply—and adequately—described as “dominant.” In the process, Broome became the first SEC player to finish with at least 15 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in an NCAA Tournament game since NBA superstar Anthony Davis did it at Kentucky in 2012. Davis put up those lines in back-to-back games against Baylor in the Elite Eight and Louisville in the Final Four, as Kentucky won the national championship.

Broome is just the third player in the last 15 years to score at least 19 points and finish with at least a dozen rebounds and five blocks in an NCAA Tournament game. The other two during that span both played at Gonzaga: Domantas Sabonis had a 19/17/5 line in a loss to Syracuse in the 2016 tournament, while Chet Holmgren had 19, 17 and seven in a win against Georgia State a year ago.

“He played like a monster,” Auburn guard Zep Jasper said. “He got down today.”

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Broome helped tip the scale in Auburn’s favor in a matchup against an Iowa team that was bigger across the board and efficient at finishing at the rim. Broome turned back five Iowa shots in the paint—finishing with three more blocks than the Hawkeyes had as a team and marking his most in a game since Auburn’s win against Ole Miss last month. It was the sixth time this season and 23rd time in his career that he blocked at least five shots in a game.

More than just his presence down low defensively, Broome held his own against a quality Iowa front court that includes All-Big Ten forward Kris Murray and Filip Rebraca. Broome outscored and outrebounded both; Murray finished with 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting and grabbed nine boards, while Rebraca scored 14 and had seven rebounds. Broome even kept up his recent hot shooting from the perimeter, draining his lone 3-point attempt while improving to 6-of-14 from deep (42.9 percent) over the last month.

“Johni’s always been that dog,” Auburn forward Chris Moore said. “Coming from the OVC, he’s always been that underdog type of person, but he’s never wavered from competition, never wavered from somebody having a pro or somebody they putting over him at the five position. He always came out and performed and lifted us. To me, he’s probably one of the best frontcourt bigs in the country.”

While Broome’s presence inside loomed large and helped Auburn tough through a physical opening-round matchup, it was another aspect — one that has been an issue for him this season — that helped the Tigers close out the win.

Broome went 4-of-4 from the free-throw line in the final three minutes, as Auburn cashed all 10 of its attempts from the line down the stretch. It was a cool-under-pressure moment for Broome, who entered the tournament shooting 58.2 percent from the line and was coming off a 1-of-6 performance in the SEC Tournament last week. He missed each of his first two attempts from the line earlier in the night against Iowa, but with the game in the balance and Auburn’s season on the line Thursday, he didn’t disappoint.

“Nobody in this locker room wants to go home,” Broome said. “You know, my team relies on me a lot, and I was able to deliver for them, to keep this thing going on to the next round. But you know, it just feels good to win.”

As Broome put it afterward: Good players hit shots when their team needs them most. Broome has been arguably Auburn’s best player this season, and he showed it again on the big stage.

He wasn’t starstruck this time around. He was ready for the moment.

“This year,” Broome said, “I’m back like I never left.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.