Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl
Opening statement…
“Good afternoon. Getting ready for Ole Miss. They handled us pretty good over there the first time, turned us over with their 1-3-1. We struggled against it. We have historically, it’s bothered us a little bit. It’s kind of feast or famine. Ole Miss is second in the league in scoring defense. Again, you guys get tired of hearing me say this, but they are the most experienced team in our league based on how many guys have played and for as many years as they have. They have a lot of transfers. Older, physical, scrappy, tough. They play with as much of an edge, I think, is anybody in our league. They’re No. 2 in forcing turnovers, so we have historically turned it over at least 17 times a game against them – we turned it over 17 times over there – and they turn people over 17 times. They get a lot of offense out of their defense. It won’t be a high scoring game. We’ve got to be locked in ourselves defensively. The things that we struggle with – offensive rebounding, our transition offense, transition defense – that’s something they’re pretty good at. (Devontae) Shuler and (Jarkel) Joiner are playing really, really well right now. They’ve got a lot of depth, too. They have got 13 guys on the roster, and 13 different guys have played at various times. And then for us, bouncing back from Georgia – that was tough. Georgia played well, we didn’t. It will be an opportunity for us to play against a team that we are going to be right in there with. I think the next few games – there’s a pack in the middle of the league that’s going to separate itself from one another, and we’re involved in a number of those games against the middle of the pack here.”
On what he saw from the team after a disappointing loss to Georgia…
“It was tough coming back on Wednesday. They got it off because if they get one day off a week on a Sunday-Tuesday schedule, Wednesday’s their day off. We came back yesterday and it took us three quarters of our practice to finally get going. We ended practice well, but it took us a long time to get there. It happens to all teams. I could chalk my team up to so many first times we’ve gone through some things because this is the first year for this group together. I don’t know what’s happening to other teams in our league. I can see results and can say, ‘Man, South Carolina goes to Florida after Florida gets ranked and beats them. Tennessee looks like they got everything figured out against Kansas and then Ole Miss beats them.’ For us, you knew the Georgia game was going to be a challenge to be as excited about, but we worked on it and talked about it. We didn’t have that edge. What I told my guys is what we do doesn’t work if we’re not flying around. Georgia flew around, we didn’t, and that was the result. We can fly around and get beat. We could’ve flown around with Georgia and still got beat. They played very well. But, we won’t (win) if we don’t fly around.”
On adjustments that need to be made after the game Tuesday…
“They’re really more like improvements. It’s not that Kermit Davis, the next guy we’re going up against, isn’t watching a film of us either. It’s hard for me to go, ‘Here is exactly what it is, and then tell my opponent where they should go to beat us, this is where we’re weak.’ Now, they probably watch film and figure it out. But from a standpoint of being open and honest, let me give you a list of three main things we can’t do. So obviously it’s involving certain aspects. Georgia got 53 points at the rim. Fifty-three points in the paint. Ole Miss is really good from 2. They’re better from 2 than 3, and they’re really physical and can get inside. If we don’t guard better in certain areas, Ole Miss is going to get to the rim, which is where they’re good. That’ll obviously be a problem for us. Remember Arkansas? Points in the paint. So if we’re going to talk about how to do it, that’s probably it.”
On what stood out in Ole Miss’ win vs. Tennessee…
“They were better than Tennessee that night. Bigger, stronger, beat Tennessee at their own game. They’re the No. 2 defensive team in the league. Tennessee’s the best defensive team in the league. It was a an absolute dogfight. Ole Miss, by virtue of the fact that they’re going to play in the 50s and 60s, they’re going to be in every game. They had Florida beat at Florida. They’re close, and they are better than they were a year ago. Kermit’s (Davis) got really good pieces. (Devontae) Shuler was All-SEC. And then you bring in Romello White, who was one of the better players in the Pac-12, and he’s been consistently good and playing better. (Jarkel) Joiner was the best player in Cal State-Bakersfield’s league. He led them in scoring and he’s scoring really well here. The kid that transferred from Samford (Robert Allen) has gotten better. Senior. Senior. Senior. Senior. Ole Miss, they could be a team that could make a run at the end of the year, because they’re big, they’re strong, they’re athletic, they’re old, and they’re going to guard you every night, whether or not they’re going to struggle scoring. That’s been their bugaboo. Otherwise, they would be having an even better record than what they do earlier in the year. And then on their math, they were the best defensive team in the country before we started SEC play. Not everything to do with schedule. They were just dominating people. People could score against them. They’re hard to score against.”