Tag: Bruce Pearl auburn

Bruce Pearl on win against Tennessee: ‘I was so proud of our guys’

Auburn broke a three-game losing streak with a 77-72 victory over No. 25 Tennessee on Saturday in Auburn Arena.

Opening Statement…

“Our guys just beat a team that’s got a 15 NET, a team that was picked to win our league, and did it with tremendous effort and energy. I was so proud of our guys in their preparation. It’s been obviously tough this season because we haven’t had as much success as we would’ve liked and we knew how young we were. So there hasn’t been a ton of joy after games. But you could see the kids just haven’t quit. And somehow, we were the more excited team to play, which is really hard to do. Our starters were terrific. They all stepped up in a huge, huge way. I thought Jamal Johnson only having one turnover was incredible. We did make an adjustment. I decided to play Al (Allen Flanigan) at his best position and let Al be Al. We played Jamal at the point and let him get us into stuff. The fact that we only turned the ball over 12 times – it’s been a while since we only turned the ball over 12 times in the league, that might even be the season low. But we got good looks, and the guys let me coach them a little bit. I thought Steven Pearl and Maddux Jeffreys had a phenomenal game plan again. You’ve got to stop Tennessee inside. You’ve got to stop (John) Fulkerson and (Yves) Pons at the rim, front them out of the post. You’ve got to make Tennessee beat you from 3 not 2, and they almost did. We kind of needed that one.”

On better offense in the second half…

“The offense is in front of me in the second half. Mike Burgomaster is kind of my offensive coordinator. Mike and I, and Steven who was the scout today, kind of go over the things that we like, and I thought we were able to get Al (Flanigan) downhill. We were able to get some guys some shots. We did a couple things on the under-the-basket out-of-bounds (plays) we hadn’t done all year long and got some big, big buckets. We had some things we hadn’t shown yet that we thought would be effective against Tennessee. Guys made shots. Guys made plays. I just thought the fact that we were able to turn corners a little bit on Tennessee in those double gaps made a difference.”

On Jamal Johnson playing point guard…

“That was the key to the game. He gets the game ball because of it. Again, putting him in that position let him set us up, and it let Al Flanigan be Al Flanigan and be a dominant player off the ball as a scorer. It paid off for us. That paid off for us. But obviously, Jamal played (great). He’s the oldest guy, he’s the smartest guy. It shows his versatility. When Jamal Johnson looks back at his career, I want him to remember this AUTLIVE game. I want him to remember this game. The fact that he was able to take the ball over, in an SEC game, and play point guard, a position he hadn’t played all year long virtually, and only have one turnover? Pretty impressive.”

On Allen Flanigan’s 23-point performance…

“He was physically dominant. He ties us with Stretch (Babatunde Akingbola) as the leading rebounder. Stretch is our leading rebounder and only plays eight minutes, so Stretch gave us great effort and energy coming off the bench. Dylan Cardwell played well when he was out there also. Even though their numbers don’t say it, those guys gave us effective minutes in there.  But Al played 36 minutes, he plays the whole game, and we ask him to do so very much. He’s a workhorse. If I was a better horseman, I would know what kind of horse to call Allen. I can’t call him a Thoroughbred, but he’s got a little Thoroughbred in him. He’s not a Clydesdale. They’re too slow. He’s not a plow horse because he’s a better athlete than a plow horse. But I tell you what, he’s a Flanigan. They’re going to grind now. They’re tough, they’re physical, they’re hard on themselves. He was a load in there today.”

Five starters led by Allen Flanigan help Auburn continue dominance of Tennessee

All five Auburn starters finished with double-digit points as the Tigers and Bruce Pearl continued their dominance of Tennessee.

We know that Bruce Pearl loves beating some teams more than others, but the dominance he has going on Tennessee is starting to get a little silly.

Without star point guard Sharife Cooper, missing Justin Powell for the 14th straight game and riding a three-game losing streak, Auburn took it to No. 25 Tennessee in a 77-72 victory over the Volunteers, the sixth-straight victory for the Tigers against Rick Barnes’ side.

It wasn’t just one player that made the difference either as all five starters reached double digits in points led by Allen Flanigan with 23. Flanigan played one of the best games of his young career, producing seven rebounds and three assists to just two turnovers even though the ball was in his hand quite a lot.

Quiet for most of the game, Jamal Johnson turned in big plays during crunch time, especially when it came to free throw shooting. The junior from Birmingham finished 6-of-8 from the line and put up 14 points and just one turnover while handling point guard duty. Devan Cambridge, cold as could be at the beginning, made some big buckets in the second. Jaylin Williams was clutch from the line, making 8-of-10 free throws while J.T. Thor used his length to frustrate the Vols on offense.

It was just another example of a Pearl-coached team taking it to the Volunteers. While Tennessee has been hot and cold this season, it still came into the game 16-6 and as one of the top five teams in the conference. Yet the Tigers — these young Tigers — enforced their will on the Vols, coming down with 16 offensive rebounds and forcing 13 turnovers from a veteran squad.

The defense, which Pearl said on Friday had no choice but to play better, smothered the Tennessee shooters and wide-open looks were few and far between. Santiago Vescovi, who made two quick threes in the first half, never saw another shot go in the basket. Out of their 72 points, 43 came from true freshmen Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer.

A microcosm of the game came with a little more than two minutes left and the Tigers up by 10. Tennessee could not find an open shot and, after an inbounds pass by the Vols, the players had no idea the shot clock was running down and Auburn forced a shot clock penalty.

The credit goes to each player for how they responded to Pearl’s challenge after a rough outing against Florida on Tuesday night. With no tournament or post-season play coming and only three games left on the schedule, one wondered how the Tigers would fight at the end of the season.

That answer was clear from the very first 20 minutes of the game. Auburn scraped and fought and, even when early turnovers reared their ugly head, they still defended.

It all led to a five-point victory that this young group of guys can take as momentum into the last two matchups and into the offseason. Auburn teams of the past may have given up or downright quit, but with Pearl in charge, you know that isn’t an option, especially when the opponent is wearing that bright orange.

Dylan Cardwell celebrated by doing the worm on the floor postgame and I’m sure Pearl will cherish another victory over his former team. He should be used to it by now, though. The Volunteers have no answer for Auburn right now.

Bruce Pearl blunt after loss to LSU: ‘I’m disappointed we didn’t compete’

Auburn brought no energy or effort in Saturday’s blowout loss to LSU, disappointing head coach Bruce Pearl.

Bruce Pearl didn’t hold back on Saturday evening after he had just seen his team get blown out by LSU by a score of 104-80. The Auburn coach used the word disappointed so much you would have thought it was the word of the day.

“I got asked on the radio to sum it up a little bit: man, I’m disappointed,” Pearl said. “I thought we had a great game plan. I thought we had a good week of preparation. I thought we were excited about playing. I understand that LSU and coming up Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama – they are all playing to go the NCAA Tournament. Tonight was the first night that I saw it, that we just didn’t have that edge. I’m disappointed in our team. I’m disappointed in our play. I’m disappointed in our execution. I’m disappointed in our preparation. I’m disappointed that we didn’t compete. And I’m disappointed that guys weren’t excited about their matchup. Who wants Cam Thomas? Who wants him? Who wants Trendon Watford? Who wants Javonte Smart? There just was not any of that. That is a problem. As a result, we got whooped.”

The visiting Tigers had no fight in them as they fell behind early to LSU, trailing by as much as 22 points in the first half. The Bayou Bengals did whatever they wanted, especially in the paint as they bullied around the young Tigers on the boards and in one-on-one situations.

Pearl continued his message of disappointment to his team following the game.

“I want them to know I was disappointed,” he said. “When my dad would be upset with me, no big deal. But when he got disappointed in me, that bothered me. If my coaches were mad at me about something – and these guys are my best friends – and they were mad at me about something, we’d deal with it, whatever it was. But let’s say one of my assistants was disappointed in me. Man, that would hurt. That would hurt. I’m disappointed. I think we’re better than this. That was my message.”

Here is everything else Pearl said following the loss:

On if this game reminded him of the Gonzaga game…

“I don’t know if it reminded me of the Gonzaga game. I knew that Watford, Days, Smart and Thomas are all really good players. I just don’t think that they are much better than our players, but they played it. That’s why I’m disappointed.”

On getting the team excited for matchups with no postseason motivation…

“Javone Smart is a really good player. Cam Thomas is the fourth-leading scorer (in the country). Trendon Watford is from Birmingham, could’ve gone pro last year, but came back. There’s not much that I can do if that doesn’t excite you, right? I think part of it is the competitiveness, the pride. I was surprised that we weren’t locked in saying, ‘Hey, here’s what we’ve got to do.’ We just didn’t do it. I really thought we had a good plan. I thought we had a great, great plan, but we got beat 1-on-1. It was 1-on-1 and they beat us at every position.”

On addressing the team’s lack of motivation…

“It’s a matter of pride and our team has gotten better throughout the season, but these other teams have gotten better, too. Obviously, these teams are playing with an edge, playing to get ready for postseason. Every game is life or death for them right now, so I’ve got to keep it real and just be honest with our guys. When we’re not locked in, when we don’t compete, when we get pushed around like that, physically – Florida’s going to push us around, Tennessee’s going to push us around. Our big guys are young and they’re not physical enough. We don’t have enough physicality and toughness, and that really showed tonight.”

Everything Bruce Pearl said ahead of Auburn’s matchup against Kentucky

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl previews the Tigers’ matchup against Kentucky in Rupp Arena on Saturday.

Opening Statement…

“Good afternoon. I had to check my clock to see if it was afternoon or not. We’re going up to Kentucky. Kentucky is playing better. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team as good as this whose record is what the record is. They’ve led in nine of their 13 losses in the second half, and for reasons of inexperience or other teams making plays – obviously it’s Kentucky – a little bad luck to have lost as many games. You look at them, they’re playing hard, they’re playing with more confidence, they’re playing better than they were earlier in the season as you would expect young teams to do or new teams to do that get put together. In evaluating our league, I’ve always in the preseason picked the six or seven teams every year that I think can get there. I don’t always pick us as accurately, but I get the other ones right most of the time. I still had Kentucky in the upper division in our league. I had them as an NCAA Tournament team. All the other teams that are there, I had them. I still think this Kentucky team can get there. Whether they win out in the regular season or whether they have to win the SEC Tournament, they’re playing well enough and there’s enough there for them to get there. And while I think the league is very competitive, there isn’t anybody in this league that they can’t beat. That’s not newsworthy. This isn’t rocket science. I don’t think anybody else hasn’t come up with that. So in getting ready for them – keeping them off the offensive glass, stopping them in transition, finding ways to score over their length. All I can tell you is we were 7 for 28, shooting 25 percent, and we led 17-16 at Auburn. I don’t know that mathematically that’s even remotely possible. They played really good defense. We missed some shots. But when you’re shooting 7 for 28, you should be completely out of the game, and we weren’t. So I’m going to give our team credit for the fact that we played so hard against Kentucky. That was probably the hardest we’ve played all year long. While the Missouri win, mathematically, is probably our best win, being the No. 12 team in the country – gosh, we played well against Kentucky. We played hard. If we shoot like that again in Rupp, it won’t be close. And if it wasn’t for our defense and our effort and energy, we would’ve gotten blown out at home. So I want to give our guys credit for getting that one. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of work to do at Rupp. The history speaks to itself. We played better defensively against Vanderbilt. Jamal (Johnson) made shots in the first half. Sharife (Cooper) controlled the game in the second half. We made shots as a team in the second half. So if we can put it together, we can play competitively. But again, with six games to go in the regular season, if we don’t play better than we did at Vanderbilt, it will be hard to win. That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

On the challenge of playing at Rupp Arena…

“It’s a great challenge. They’ve got great home-court advantage. There will four or five thousand people in the building. But the thing I talked to my team about is this. Wes Flanigan played at Rupp twice during his career. Most of the time, Auburn is going to get Kentucky once every couple of years. If you’re here for three years, you might only play them at Rupp once. Playing in that building is an honor. It just is. That’s one of the great houses in all of basketball, right there with the Boston Garden. You’re going to remember the games you played there. You just are. Like forever. So the way I look at it for our guys is an opportunity. You’re going to remember how you did at Rupp five years, 10 years, 50 years from now.”

On end of season plans and going out on a positive note…

“We talk about trying to get better. I am very honest with them; I try to be really honest with you [the media]. The things I say to you guys [the media] I say to them. They understand that there is not a game left in our schedule that if we don’t play better, we’ll win. That has been our focus all year long. Transition defense, trying to keep people off the boards being more physical, and stop turning the ball over so much. The same things the media hears from me over and over again. I was encouraged by one of my assistants this morning. We were visiting about our game plan and frustrated that we are making some of the same mistakes repeatedly, and not growing as fast as I would like to grow. He tried to make me feel better saying “that reading lots of other coaches they say the same thing.” We’d love to play our best basketball down the stretch. Knowing that we are playing a lot of teams who are playing for SEC and NCAA Tournament positionings, we are not. That has not been a factor too much yet, but it could be down the stretch.”

On trying to sweep Kentucky for the first time…

“It would mean a lot. I think typically people judge you on how you do in the best competitions against the best teams in your schedule and your rivals. It’s a great opportunity for us. There is a reason why Kentucky is playing well right now. They are playing with confidence. They are shooting it better and that’s the scary part. They are shooting about 36% from three in the league. The last 6 or 7 games they are shooting closer to 40% from three. When you have good post up game like they do and then guys who can take a three-point shot, that’ll obviously present a challenge. Our guys will know the history that’s available to them.”

On how the end of the season is different this year…

“It doesn’t feel normal. It’s not the same. We are working as hard, and I think our kids are training as hard but there is an edge to where you are going to be seeded in the tournament and who you want to get matched up with on your road to the conference tournament championship. Normally we talk about this stuff, if we win or lose here this is what our seeding is nationally, this is the road to the final four. We talk about that a lot. There is a bit of an edge. The greatest example I can give you is halftime at the game at Arkansas. Eric Musselman walked in at halftime and said to his guys “Do you want to make the NCAA Tournament; well, you can’t lose to this team if you do.” That’s just a little bit of an edge. There are no excuses here. We take advantage of the opportunities. We play Kentucky on CBS. CBS put this game on a Saturday. There are a lot of other good SEC games, but they wanted Auburn vs. Kentucky, alright can we take advantage of it.”

On Justin Powell…

“I met with Justin this morning. He’s doing okay, but he misses his team. He misses his coaches. He misses being around every day. He misses the opportunity to finish up on a spectacular start to his freshman campaign. All I can tell you is in leading up to our season, Justin’s teams won. We keep score in everything. It don’t matter if it’s 3-on-3, 4-on-4 or 5-on-5. It don’t matter. His teams won. Why? Because he was a productive player and he’s a great competitor. So the fact that he is not able to be out there with his teammates right now is depressing. He is hanging in there. He is going to recover. But obviously, we wish he would have recovered from his head injury sooner so he could be out there with his teammates.”

On if JT Thor’s recent struggles are in part due to the other team or him not knowing where to fit in…

“I think combination of both and maybe just a little bit of freshman fatigue. He has never worked so hard. He’s always worked hard. He’s never worked so hard in his entire life. You think about his summer – even though there were limitations of what we could and couldn’t do – he trained harder this summer than he’s ever trained in his life. He has never had to play defense and play as hard off the ball or in other aspects as he is now. Being young, being thin and having so much energy – people marvel at my energy. Well, I’ve got plenty of fat, and I can burn plenty of fat, and I’ve got plenty of energy. He don’t have no fat. He don’t eat no meat. He needs to eat some lamb. But, let me tell you something. How about a couple of rebounds and some defensive plays? And two big free throws to beat Kentucky by JT Thor, a just newly-turned 18-year-old kid. I don’t think he’s not getting it. He has been incredibly consistently improving throughout the year. So why in the last three or four, maybe two or three games has that growth stopped? I don’t think it has anything to do with growth. I think it might have something to do with fatigue.”

On Jaylin Williams’ development…

“Offensively, he is fun to have out there on the floor because he can shoot, he can pass, he can handle, he’s got high IQ and is not afraid of the moment. Defensively, he could have greater impact. That’s an area, both his physicality and his ability to guard any position, though he’s capable. When he gets those things, which I hope he’ll get them by next season, he is a real mismatch. He’s a mismatch. He’s got a chance to be a real problem, a mismatch, if he can improve on the defense, rebounding, the physical aspects of the game and guard anybody on the floor, and he’s capable of doing all those things.”

Everything Bruce Pearl said following Auburn’s road win at Vanderbilt

Auburn snapped a three-game losing streak on Tuesday night by defeating Vanderbilt, 73-67, in Nashville.

Opening Statement…

“It’s great to get a win on the road in the league. We had to fight through some adversity. I think some of it was a little self-inflicted. Sharife (Cooper) played great in the second half. Didn’t have a turnover in the game. That was just fun to watch. Let him get downhill, he’s so hard to guard, so unselfish. I thought Jamal Johnson was terrific in the first half. Really picked us up. Devan Cambridge in the second half. Stretch gave us some great minutes off the bench, picked us up on the defensive end. It was a good win, but while we made a little progress with our defense, offensively way too many turnovers. We didn’t execute very well. We’ve got to play a lot better if we’re going to win again.”

On the biggest difference offensively in the second half…

“In the first half, Jamal Johnson was making 3s. But obviously in the second half, we shot the ball better from 3. We got better looks. We were 6 for 9 (from 3). They played a little bit of zone for a couple possessions and we hurt them with some shots. We got into the bonus and we made free throws. That was a real positive. I thought we did a pretty good job of guarding Vanderbilt. We did a great job with the prep. Our scouting report was to make them make tough 2s and not give them the 3 ball. Early on they did. I think they knew what our scouting report was going to be and they took advantage of it early. But then after that, we were able to settle down, and they missed a lot of shots that we thought they would miss. We didn’t let (Scotty) Pippen be a playmaker. He’s really good as a playmaker. He only had one assist tonight.”

On being able to grab rebounds when the shots weren’t falling…

“It is important. We had 29 defensive rebounds. They only had 8 offensive rebounds. They are not a big offensive rebounding team. They are a big shot, take-it-and-make-it team. I thought our guys did a good job getting on the offensive glass. Jaylin Williams rebounded the ball really well. Allen Flanigan with seven defensive rebounds. That was really key for us tonight. Allen played really good defense. All of our guards picked it up in a big way defensively, and we needed them to. They made progress tonight in that regard.”

On encouraging Jamal Johnson after he was in a slump the last few games…

“I think he has got to feel really good about his contribution. He’s got to feel really good about that. We don’t win without him. We don’t beat Vanderbilt without him, period. So, it says a lot about his mental toughness and his confidence and playing within himself. I think the other thing too is Jamal didn’t have a turnover. So he did what he did, went to his strengths, stayed away from his weaknesses, played really good defense and made shots and didn’t try to do too much. As a result, he was really productive, he doesn’t have a turnover, and he is plus-15 or so for the game. It just translates.”

On the luxury of having Sharife Cooper when the game is tight…

“It is point guards winning. It is why you have got to have a great quarterback. Put it in their hands and let them make plays. I thought there were a couple of decisions that Sharife made where he threw the ball to some guys, and look, I would rather have you keep it. I would rather have the ball in your hands, put guys in positions to not turn the ball over. And a couple times we had some breakdowns there.”

Everything Bruce Pearl said after Auburn’s overtime loss to Ole Miss

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl speaks after the Tigers’ overtime loss to Ole Miss on Saturday.

Opening Statement…

“Romello White and (Devontae) Shuler are pretty good players, older players. Schuler is an All-SEC guard and played like it, particularly down the stretch. Romello White was a monster in there. Our strategy was to front the post, front it to a fault, make them lob it over the top, but our bigs just wouldn’t do it, couldn’t do it. We probably could’ve doubled a little bit more. I was just disappointed that we couldn’t keep it out of there and make them lob it over the top. I asked the guys after the game just to do the little things, the basics. You score 84 points against a team that gives up 63 a game and is the number two defensive team – it’s not our offense, it’s our ability to defend, defense, rebounding, toughness, strength, just getting pushed around. The guys, defensively, don’t have to be Superman. They’ve just got to do a better job of getting the guy in front of you and a better job of communicating, a better job of getting a deflection, forcing some more turnovers. Five-point lead at the end of regulation, timeout. Steven Pearl drew up both plays they were going to run. He drew them both up. Shuler set a back screen, we didn’t stay sticky, he comes off it and knocks down a 3-ball. Then they ran something else where they cleared us out and drove us downhill. Can’t guard, can’t win.

On the final shot from Shuler…

“He’s a veteran player. The zone had been good for us. Again, when they ran that middle ball screen, we asked our guards to switch out. They didn’t. They switched flat, which then let Shuler get to his spot. It’s just simple things like that that we could’ve done better or differently. A lot of stuff we talked about doing, we didn’t do.”

On Jaylin Williams and Sharife Cooper setting up the late 3 for Auburn…

“Our guys have done a really good job competing and fighting and playing hard. We played really well today. We did a lot of really good things. You score 84 against Ole Miss, man. Now, I thought we had some careless turnovers. That was a real problem for us. Sharife (Cooper) and Allen (Flanigan) had 11 turnovers. That’s a lot. Some teams don’t have 11 turnovers. That was a factor for us. They had 17 points off our turnovers. Were all of them forced? I don’t think so. Our guys are obviously competing until the end. The pressure was a factor. We turned them over. We just didn’t finish.”

On what changed from the 14-point lead to the end of regulation…

“I’ll have to go back and look at it. My guess is that we stopped rebounding and they got to the paint. I don’t know exactly what the issue is. We had a couple of really bad turnovers. Passing with no purpose, stepping out of bounds, or just not valuing possessions offensively and not getting stops on the defensive end. Ole Miss got some real effort and energy plays. Their two best players were dominant tonight. I thought overall we played well. We did a lot of really good things. The kids played hard. Down the stretch, I even told our guys in timeouts, ‘If we get beat, they’ll say they were older, more experienced, been there done that.’ I said, ‘Let’s not let that happen.’ We told them what they would do and they did it.”

Everything Bruce Pearl said ahead of Auburn vs. Ole Miss

Auburn head basketball coach Bruce Pearl previews the Tigers matchup against Ole Miss on Saturday.

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.”

Everything Bruce Pearl said following Auburn’s loss to No. 2 Baylor

Auburn fought tough for the first half but couldn’t match No. 2 Baylor for the entire game in a 84-72 loss to the Bears.

Opening statement…

“Disappointed. Missed opportunity. I thought we had a good game plan. I thought we executed really well for the first 15 minutes. Like the Arkansas game, we had some breakdowns at the end of the first half and didn’t start the second half with any effort and energy. We got outplayed in the backcourt, and that’s OK because (Jared) Butler and (MaCio) Teague and Davion Mitchell and (Adam) Flagler are all really good. But I think our guys are good, too. That was disappointing. Just from the look of the shooting percentages that we had. We just didn’t guard them in the second half or at the end of the first half like I think we’re capable of. I’m proud of the kids for coming back. We called a timeout there late with about five minutes to go. Baylor kept their starters in the entire game, trying to build on their scoring margin or something. So we pressed and closed the game out in the last five or six minutes with some effort and energy. We made some plays.”

On Baylor’s run early in the second half…

“They’re dangerous. But how much of it was them? How much of it was us? I think I’ve got to hold us a little bit more accountable. I think the good thing is I would like to think we could control that.”

On the impact of playing No. 1 and No. 2 teams…

“It’s an important thing. These guys came here to play against a great schedule. You’re fortunate to be able to play in this arena, play against this program. It’s a bit of a gauge for where we’re at and we’re close, we’re improving – but we’re not where we want to be or where I want us.”

On difference in rebounding between first and second half…

“In the first half, the defense is in front of our bench. We’re in their ear about where to be and where not to be. The other thing, too, is whether or not fatigue is a factor. Sharife (Cooper) and Al (Flanigan) both played almost 34 minutes. That’s a lot of minutes. To be able to play at the level that you have to play at, part of it is maybe being not as physically strong to be able to dig down to get some of those second half resources. Part of it is the offseason. We didn’t have the kind of offseason you would normally have. But again, from my standpoint, I’m going to put it on us as a team. Fatigue was a factor, but that’s because we let down some.”

On solid frontcourt play from JT Thor and Jaylin Williams…

“They did well. I knew going in that Jaylin (Williams) at the 5 was going to be a good thing. We didn’t take enough advantage of him at the 5, but I thought those two young guys played really, really well. With the exception of (Flo) Thamba getting 11 rebounds and their big guys rebounded, their starting 4 and 5 had two points, and our starting 4 and 5 had 30. So I thought our frontline guys from that standpoint did really well. We did a nice job there.”

Opinion: Auburn gains valuable lesson, experience in loss to No. 2 Baylor

Auburn couldn’t hold off a big run by No. 2 Baylor at the beginning of the first half in a 84-72 loss to the Bears.

If there ever was a sign that it wasn’t Auburn’s day in Waco, it happened around the nine-minute mark in the second half when a tipped ball popped right to Baylor’s Matthew Mayer on the top of the key and the forward drained a three-pointer.

It definitely wasn’t the difference as the second-ranked Bears, a team full of veterans, came out and imposed their will on the still-learning Tigers, but it showed that when you are good, the bounces are likely going to go your way.

The end result was a 84-72 defeat that was never in question after the Bears came out of the locker room in the second half and made their first four field goal attempts while Auburn struggled to even try and keep pace.

Yet this was what many expected to happen. Baylor isn’t undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the nation for nothing. The team is built for a national championship run under Scott Drew and, with a starting lineup that Bruce Pearl half-jokingly said was older than that of the Chicago Bulls, the Bears know how to punish young teams still learning. That is exactly what this Auburn team is: a group that are still trying to find their way, the best way to use their talents within the team and a group that is more green than Baylor’s away uniforms.

There were some positives of course to take out of it and that doesn’t even include the chance to battle against a team that is one of the favorites to win it all this year. That is a lesson that the Tigers will take from this loss. If you can battle this team for 20 minutes and stand toe-to-toe? Nothing will scare these guys in the future.

Sharife Cooper battled his heart out as well despite getting checked by bigger players. A “bad” game for the freshman turned into 15 points, seven rebounds  and five assists against a defense surely focused on taking him out of his game no matter the consequences.

The Tigers never quit, either. It would have been easy to throw in the towel while down 20 in the final 10 minutes but, let’s face it, Bruce Pearl wouldn’t allow that. Neither would this team.

There’s no shame in losing this game no matter how lopsided the score became. When Baylor catches fire like they did in the first 12 minutes of the second half, no one, not even Gonzaga, may be able to stay with them. They are just that good and you just have to tip your hat to them. It was a display of pure dominance for a while and even shots that were contended ended up going in.

Take the loss for what it was. Learn from it. Build on it. That is all you can possibly do.

With the future of this team so bright, we may look back at this game as one of the building blocks for a lot of victories.

Sharife Cooper, Davion Mitchell matchup highlights Auburn’s tilt with Baylor

Auburn star Sharife Cooper will match up against former Tiger Davion Mitchell when the Tigers play Baylor on Saturday.

Sharife Cooper has already battled a few good guards since joining Auburn on Jan. 9 but no matchup will be as big as what faces him on Saturday in Baylor’s Davion Mitchell.

Tigers fans are aware of the Bears’ Mitchell as he played for the orange and blue back in 2017-18 when Auburn won the SEC regular season title. As a freshman, the Hinesville, Ga. native averaged 3.7 points and 1.9 assists on 17.1 minutes per game.

With Jared Harper permanently in place as the starter, Mitchell decided to transfer prior to the 2018-19 season much to the chagrin of Bruce Pearl.

“I’m so grateful for Davion coming to Auburn,” Pearl said. “I hated when he left. It broke my heart. He was playing with and competing with Jared Harper. Jared was a year older and had a little bit of an edge. I would have loved to have had a chance to play them together. If Davion stayed, we never would’ve seen J’Von McCormick. So it worked out great for everybody.”

The move to the Big 12 school has definitely been good for Mitchell. As a redshirt sophomore last season, he played 32.4 minutes per game for Scott Drew and became an impact player, putting up 9.9 points, 3.8 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game on his way to earning Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.

He’s been even better this year, averaging 12.9 points, 5.9 assist and 2.2 steals per game for undefeated and second-ranked Baylor.

It is Mitchell’s physicality that can be troublesome for the smaller Cooper. At 205 pounds, the Baylor guard has at least 25 pounds on the star freshman guard and will use that to his advantage when trying to get Cooper out of his game.

Pearl, though, isn’t worried about Cooper backing down.

“He’ll do fine,” Pearl said. “He’ll respect Davion for sure. Everything we do will be harder to do because Davion will be guarding him. But they’ve got other guys that can guard as well. It’s Baylor against Auburn. It’s not Davion against Sharife. There’s not bad blood at all between Auburn and Baylor, Davion and our coaches. We love him, we miss him and I’m proud of him. But it’ll be a great matchup of great players.”