Tag: bruce pearl

WATCH: Auburn releases goosebump-inducing highlight video of win over Kentucky

Auburn defeated Kentucky for the third time in four games on Saturday as Allen Flanigan led the Tigers with 21 points.

Auburn once again defeated Kentucky in basketball on Saturday, the Tigers’ third win in the last four games between the two, as Allen Flanigan scored 21 points and the Tigers’ defense shut down the struggling Wildcats.

Despite Kentucky being 4-8 now on the season, it was still a big win for a young Auburn team that is finding its footing and, as usual, it was followed up by a highlight video that will get your blood pumping.

Bruce Pearl has made extraordinary ordinary by flipping Auburn-Kentucky series on its head

Bruce Pearl has made extraordinary ordinary by flipping Auburn-Kentucky series on its head

Auburn is 6-5 against Kentucky in the last 11 matchups as Bruce Pearl has turned the tables on the Wildcats in the series.

It was common practice just five seasons ago that when Auburn pulled out the rare occurrence of beating Kentucky in basketball, the court would be stormed. Heck, this was the case even when Auburn was the favorites as the Tigers were in 2000.

It would be a shocker. A cliche case of David vs. Goliath with the Wildcats serving as the constant punishers. If Auburn dominates the series in football, it was even worse the opposite way when it came to basketball. Between 1990 and 2015, Kentucky went an eye-popping 33-1 against the Tigers.

Let’s repeat that: 33-1. And that included a lot of blowouts at the hands of Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith and John Calipari.

Yet it all changed with that upset victory in 2016. Since Kareem Canty and the Tigers scored the upset, it has been Auburn the aggressor and Kentucky the hunted. Amazingly, the Tigers lead 6-5 in the last 11 matchups. Who could have ever thought that possible?

I’ve told the story before but I will repeat it here: Right after Bruce Pearl was hired, I sat beside him and his son, Steven, at The Hound in downtown Auburn. We had a friendly conversation and I asked him to just beat Kentucky for me. His response: “Maybe not this year, but we will get there.”

He’s definitely reached that point. Sure, this year’s Kentucky team is far from what you usually see on the court from a Calipari-coached side. They are struggling mightily but, then again, they have a roster full of McDonald’s All-Americans and so many 5-stars that would make even Nick Saban blush. Off year or not, the Wildcats are still the standard in the SEC and for most of college basketball.

Pearl has turned the series on its head by building a program full of players that don’t cower in the face of the Kentucky uniform. That wasn’t always the case. When they see that name on the front, many Auburn teams in the past immediately wilted. Who can blame them?

Yet we can all thank Pearl and the 2019 team for putting that to bed. Everything, and I mean everything, was pointing toward a Kentucky win in that Elite Eight game. The Wildcats had won the previous two matchups including a month earlier in Rupp in a blowout. Chuma Okeke was out after turning into Auburn’s best player and, well, their jerseys said Kentucky and ours said Auburn.

Jared Harper, Bryce Brown and the rest of the gang basically said, “To heck with that narrative” and went out and did the darn thing.

Now, a win against Kentucky isn’t treated as an upset or should it. This isn’t to say that the two programs are on the same level. Far from it. Calipari still brings in the elite of the elite each and every season and only once in a blue moon do the Wildcats have a season like this.

But it is getting closer and, despite the struggles this year’s team has seen so far during the growing process, they stepped up in the big moment against the winningest program in the sport’s history.

It once took an extraordinary effort and game with everything having to fall in place for Auburn to be on the winning side against Kentucky in basketball. Pearl is now making that look ordinary and, like yesterday, even expected.

Everything Bruce Pearl said following Auburn’s 66-59 win over Kentucky

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl spoke following the Tigers’ 66-59 win over Kentucky on Saturday.

Opening statement…

“Beating Kentucky is historic. I thought we had a great team effort. I thought our post guys did a terrific job fronting the post and keeping it out of there. Allen Flanigan was a man out there in every which way – rebounding, defensively, attacking the rim, using his physicality, willingness to take big shots, 8 for 8 from the foul line. You talk about a warrior. But up and down the roster. Devan Cambridge has quietly put together three straight really productive games. JT Thor makes big plays late. Dylan Cardwell is out there against five-star kids, high-major transfers. He didn’t play high school basketball last year, and the year before, he played behind Kofi Cockburn at Oak Hill. Dylan Cardwell is a really, really good young prospect. I’m really proud of our team. Both teams played really hard, and offense was difficult this afternoon.”

On Devan Cambridge’s three-game stretch, coming off the bench…

“Nobody likes to step out of the starting lineup, but he knew Sharife (Cooper) belonged and he was AAU teammates on the Nike circuit with AOT. Jamal (Johnson), Al (Flanigan) and Devan all volunteered. I made the decision to let Devan really have the honor of giving his friend and one of our leaders an opportunity. To Devan’s credit, he’s come back from break and he’s been very focused. That’s why today when Sharife doesn’t have his best game – he still draws nine fouls, he still gets eight assists, he’s still got a great plus-minus – but he also sees, ‘I don’t have to carry us.’ I want him to carry us. But when he doesn’t, we can still win, and that’s a really good sign. It’s play from Devan Cambridge or Allen Flanigan or JT Thor or Dylan Cardwell or Jaylin Williams that makes all the difference in the world.”

On Sharife Cooper playing better in the second half…

“He did. Let me just say this. Think about Sharife Cooper’s week. He finds out on Saturday morning a week ago he’s going to play, and he plays Alabama in a four-point game. And then we travel Tuesday to Georgia, he plays Wednesday against his arch rival in his home state. Then he comes back and plays Kentucky? That’s a pretty tough eight days. I would imagine he’s tired. I would imagine he’s pretty sore because they were physical. And I think missing 72 days of practice – you couldn’t see it right away, but you can see it now.”

On winning the battle on the boards…

“Dylan Cardwell had four big ones (in the first half). JT (Thor) got three. If there’s traffic and there’s a bunch of bodies in there and the ball goes up, 22 in white (Allen Flanigan) is going to get it. Twenty-two in white? He’s going to get it. At the end of the day, it still boils down to defense, rebounding and 50-50 balls. And one of the things I told our team, that’s not where Sharife (Cooper) is going to make us better. We’ve got to grow up in those other areas – and to a certain extent we are – if we’re going to continue to get better.”

On beating Kentucky four seasons in a row…

“I think you’re judged by how you do against the best teams on your schedule, and certainly Kentucky is going to always be as good as anybody on our schedule. Beating Alabama is important, beating Georgia is important. So it matters. We want to make history. I think before I got here, they had lost 17 in a row or something like that. I’m not even sure.  But look, you’ve got to take advantage of your opportunity. We played Kentucky at home three years in a row, and the reason why we’ve got them at home is because TV wants the Auburn-Kentucky game because it is competitive. And our program has been one of the top-five programs in the SEC over the last four years or so. So it’s great to make history.”

Everything Bruce Pearl said ahead of Auburn vs. Kentucky

Auburn hosts Kentucky on Saturday in Auburn Arena as the Tigers look to win their second straight.

Opening statement…

“We’ll have to play our best game of the year to beat Kentucky. We’re playing better. We’re improving. We’ve still got a ways to go defensively, turning the basketball over, protecting our backboard. Some of the things that Kentucky is really good at, we struggle with. They’re the benchmark of our league. So people will measure you against how you perform against the best. That’s how you should be measured. This game matters. What game in the SEC doesn’t matter? The last few games – Alabama and Georgia, our rivals – and Kentucky, you’re playing against the premier program in our conference. So it’s kind of an opportunity, and it’s an honor when you play against the Wildcats.”

On what Kentucky does well that Auburn struggles with…

“Keeping them off the boards. They’re a great offensive rebounding team. They lead the country in block shots. And so inside shots, if you don’t have advantage or disadvantage and you put it up there, that’s a block and it leads out to transition, which has been one of our challenges, getting back in transition. So those would be a couple of areas that I think would give us some problems.”

On an update on Justin Powell…

“It’s way too early to tell, in the sense that based on the concussion protocol, his scores had allowed him to get out there on Monday and start to move around a little bit. So he didn’t really practice, but he was at practice. After practice, he moved around a little bit. As a result, he didn’t continue to make progress with his concussion protocol. He needed to be able to do some other things to be in a position where he could play, so he really never practiced at full speed. One of the things you do when you get them back is you move around a little bit, see how they respond. And he didn’t respond great to moving around. Therefore, you have to shut him back down. He’s still day-to-day.”

On the importance of limiting turnovers Saturday…

“It’ll be important but, both teams play really hard. We try to bother and we try to turn some people over. That’ll obviously be a factor. Alabama, on Tuesday night, coming off of beating us at home, coming off of beating Tennessee at Tennessee, arguably playing the best basketball of any team in our league, and they played great. (John) Petty was incredible. And they made shots. They defended extremely well. Right now, Alabama is playing as well as anybody. So, while you think Alabama beating Kentucky at Rupp (Arena) is an upset, in some ways, it’s not just because how good Alabama is playing. Kentucky’s playing much better than they were early in the year. They’re sharing the ball. They’re getting to have an understanding of how to play with one another, which just does take some time. So, yes, turnovers will be a factor in the game.”

On Samir Doughty…

“Samir was really, really close to getting some two-way contracts. He and Austin Wiley were probably as hurt by the pandemic as much as any seniors coming out there because he had great senior years and were playing really, really well and would have benefited tremendously by a normal draft process – Portsmith, the Chicago combine, a draft in June – but instead, none of those things happened. So he’s trying to keep his powder dry right now and not necessarily take a contract overseas and stay right and ready for an NBA opportunity.”

On Kentucky blocking shots and Isaiah Jackson…

“They’re really, really long. Isaiah Jackson is the leading shot blocker per minutes played in the country. He’s got great timing. He’s got great length. He and JT Thor will be matched up and so those are two really long, athletic dudes. They’ve probably played against each other a little bit on the AAU circuit. We don’t have as many Nike players that played on the Nike circuit as much as Kentucky would. Devon Cambridge, Sharife (Cooper), Stretch (Babatunde Akingbola), Dylan Cardwell – all those guys played for AOT, and Brandon Boston was their teammate. So those guys are all really good friends. So that’ll be an interesting dynamic from the standpoint of seeing BJ again.”

On team’s improved free throw shooting…

“I told Andy (Burcham) last night on the show, the No. 1 reason why the free throw shooting has been better is because I wasn’t getting asked any questions about free throw shooting, and now that you’ve asked the question, you can go ahead and put the jinx on us. If we don’t shoot good free throws tomorrow, I’m going to put that on you. We work at them. We put them in pressure situations. We spend lots of time on it. One of our keys to try to be a championship team is being a good free throw shooting team. But obviously Sharife (Cooper) getting to the line, he’s a great free throw shooter. Allen (Flanigan) getting to the line, he’s a great free throw shooter. JT (Thor) has gotten to the line more, and he really has got a great stroke. He’ll shoot better than his percentage right now. Jamal Johnson has shot it better. So getting the right guys to the line, and then some of the guys have improved and worked really hard at trying to make them when they get an opportunity.”

On how Sharife Cooper’s return has helped Stretch (Babatunde Akingbola)…

“I’m sure it’s giving him confidence to be out there with one of his best friends and high school teammates. They’re like brothers for sure. So that probably gives Stretch some confidence, but also some responsibility. Sharife will get on him when he’s not in the right spot or helping him out in ball-screen defense or whatever it is. That’s part of the reason why Sharife came to Auburn. He wanted to play with Stretch. He wanted to play with Devan Cambridge. He wanted to play with Isaac Okoro. He wasn’t expecting Isaac to be gone after one year. Those were all high school teammates and AAU teammates. So it has helped Stretch. It’s helped Dylan (Cardwell) as well. It’s helped all of us.”

On the impact of Sharife Cooper, comparison to Tyler Ulis…

“That’s a great comparison because they’re both such incredible competitors and winners. Most people look at basketball players and they see their height. ‘Oh, you must play basketball, you’re tall.’ When you get guys like Tyler Ulis or Sharife Cooper or Jared Harper, can you imagine the amount of time and effort those guys put into their skills and into their bodies to overcome what they don’t have in height? I have such respect for those guys, including Sharife. Sharife is a self-made player. He’s also a really intelligent player. He is also able to see the floor in dimensions that we can’t see it. He sees it horizontally, he sees it vertically. It’s like the Matrix. Those great players have that feel. But he watches more tape than anybody. He studies the game. He studies the game at the next level. He makes everybody better for us for sure. Obviously, we have tried upon graduating Jared (Harper) – because don’t forget Jared was supposed to be a senior last year – we’ve been recruiting Sharife since he was a freshman in high school to basically take this program over after Jared and then last year J’Von (McCormick) and Samir (Doughty) moved on. That’s part of the reason why I started him the very first morning he was back because he is one our leaders.”

On any concern with Sharife Cooper’s turnovers…

“No, because with the efficiency of placing the ball in his hands, I’m asking him to do a lot. You’re going to turn the ball over some because he’s going to be the focus of every scouting report. I’m sure Kentucky is going to trap him and zone him and be physical with him, make him guard, and get him in foul trouble and do all the different things to try to wear him out. We’ve got to do a good job of making sure we don’t play him the entire game because we do ask a lot from him, and why wouldn’t you?”

On coaching strategy with one-and-done players…

“It doesn’t (affect my mindset). In recruiting, you certainly have got to prepare if you know somebody is going to be one-and-done. I think we make those decisions when the season is over. We did not anticipate Isaac (Okoro) being one-and-done. Isaac didn’t anticipate it. He came in, he worked so hard, he got put in the right positions. I had mentioned this pre-draft last year – I said he’s the most ready to play right away of anybody in the draft. That’s what I said. You look at his minutes, he plays all game long. You look at his plus-minus, he’s playing. He’s not leading them in scoring, but he’s leading them in affecting winning. We really weren’t able to prepare for that. With Sharife (Cooper) or any player, we’ll sit down at the end of the season and we’ll see what they tell us. Isaac really wanted to come back and play with Sharife this year. He really did. When we looked at where he was going to be and talked to NBA clubs, we said ‘Dude, that’s not an option. You’re not coming back. You can take classes all summer and you can hang out here, but you’re not playing for the Auburn Tigers next year.’ Our job is get to those guys ready, and when they’re ready, they need to go and start to take care of their families.”

On his thoughts if he had five or six one-and-done players every year…

“You’ve got a very short window to get them right and get them ready. But nobody has done it better than (John Calipari). Nobody has done it better than him. Are you asking me the question, ‘Would I like to have the best recruiting class in the country every year?’ Yeah, that’d be nice. But with that comes a lot of challenges. Putting that together, putting all that talent together, putting all those egos together, getting them to play hard together – nobody has done it better than Coach Calipari.”

Justin Powell listed as ‘day-to-day’ ahead of Tigers’ matchup against Ole Miss

Auburn guard Justin Powell is listed as day-to-day as the Tigers prepare for Ole Miss.

Freshman point guard Justin Powell hit his head late in the first half against Texas A&M on Saturday and is “day-to-day” according to Bruce Pearl. Powell attempted to return to the court in the second half but left for the locker room with 15:41 remaining because he did not feel well.

As the Tigers look ahead to Ole Miss Wednesday night and Alabama on Saturday, they’ll be doing so with little to no depth at point guard.

Powell has been extremely productive while fulfilling the role that originally was designated for Sharife Cooper who has yet to be cleared to play by the NCAA. The freshman three star from Kentucky leads the team with 6.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. Powell is also second in scoring with 11.7 points per game just behind sophomore wing Allen Flanigan who is averaging 14.5 points per game.

Second behind Powell on the depth chart was sophomore Tyrell “Turbo” Jones who entered the transfer portal last season.

When discussing Auburn’s current point guard situation, Pearl said, “it’s got to be done by committee.” In the second half of the Texas A&M game, Flanigan assumed to role of point guard and helped the Tigers get within two. Unfortunately for the Tigers youth, inexperience, and the absence of a true point guard have really shown on the stat sheet with 37 turnovers in their first two conference games.

On turnovers, Pearl said, “We’ve got to do a better job with the ball, but we’ve also got to do a better job off the ball of getting open, screening, spacing, timing. And we do turn it over, make sure they’re forced turnovers and not where we just sort of hand it to them.”

 

Everything Bruce Pearl said ahead of Auburn vs. Texas A&M

Auburn will try to earn its first SEC win of the season when the Tigers take on Texas A&M on Saturday.

On Texas A&M…

“They’re probably better defensively than there are offensively. They really do a great job with their pressure, and then they drop back into a man-to-man that is pretty aggressive and they do a good job turning people over. Offensively, they do a great job of getting to the foul line., They get inside, play some mismatch basketball and they attack one-on-one close outs. So, we’ll have to do a better job of taking care of the ball ourselves, attacking pressure and then getting into a set and running our offense without turning the ball over. That really hurt us against Arkansas. That’s been an issue for us all year long. And then on the defensive end, just doing a better job of guarding more than just 1-on-1. We’ve got to be able to guard as a team. If we can improve in those areas, and we’ve got to continue to try to get better at the foul line because we’re leaving too many points out there on the board, that gives us a better chance to be competitive.”

On positive signs after watching Arkansas film…

“I thought our kids competed. If you make 15 3s and shoot 50 percent from the field, you had to do a lot of good things on the offensive end. I thought the guys played with some confidence. I thought they shared the ball really well. We’re going have to do that against Texas A&M, as well avoid drawing charges. I like the progress that we’ve made. We’ve got some real weaknesses that we’ve got to shore up.”

On Devan Cambridge…

“Devin went home for the break and gave a lot of thought to what were the things that he was able to do where he can make a difference on the floor and make shots, defensively, be an impact player being an elite rebounder, and those are the things that he needs to do for us to be a better team. And obviously for him, he can do those three things at a really high level. Just focus on that. I think getting in the gym and kind of spend some more time before we get back to school where he’s able to focus, he really does enjoy it. He’s a little bit of a gym rat and he plays better when he’s in the gym a lot.”

WATCH: Auburn basketball post’s hype video ahead of SEC play

Auburn basketball opens its SEC play on Wednesday night when the Tigers host 8-0 Arkansas in Auburn Arena.

Auburn begins SEC play on Wednesday night when the Tigers host 8-0 Arkansas.

While Auburn Arena won’t be at full capacity for the opener, the official Twitter account of Auburn basketball wanted to hype up all fans out there with this video.

Everything Bruce Pearl said ahead of Auburn’s SEC opener against Arkansas

Auburn opens its SEC season on Wednesday night against Arkansas in Auburn Arena.

Opening statement…

“I look at Arkansas as one of the top five teams in our league. You could say that there’s a lot of mystery about this team because there’s so many new pieces. But, they’re very old, and they’re really experienced. Eric (Musselman) is used to coaching first-year guys being a pro coach. He’s used to not always having guys for three and four years. So, he knows how to put it together. They had a phenomenal freshman recruiting class. Those freshmen, on a lot of other teams, would be starting a lot of teams in the SEC. He’s done a beautiful job of blending transfers with really good, young talent. I think they’re really good.

“You could question their schedule on paper, but you shouldn’t. I think a little bit like us, but even more so maybe, their home games against these mid-major teams, these mid-major teams are all going to compete for their league championship. I mean, Abilene Christian, Central Arkansas, Oral Roberts, North Texas, and all those teams are going to compete for their league. Arkansas had to play really well to beat those teams., You can’t just show up and beat those teams. They play hard, they’re scrappy, they’re tough. They play with a little bit of an edge. They’re deeper than they were a year ago. They may not have a Mason (Jones) or an Isaiah Joe, who were two incredible players. But I think you could look at some guys like Moses Moody, (Desi) Sills, (Jalen) Tate or Justin Smith – I mean, they’ve got guys. Arkansas will finish in the top five of our league. So it’ll be a real step up for us. The question for us is going to be how much step up do we have? Because we are really young – the youngest team I’ve ever coached. Our guys have worked hard. They’ve gotten better. They’ve been incredibly disciplined through the COVID. The question is, is it going to be are we old enough to be able to handle the pressure that Arkansas will put on us?”

On if Auburn has an edge with Arkansas playing its first road game…

“If Auburn Arena was alive and well with The Jungle and the sellout crowd and everything, I would say that we would have an advantage. But, I don’t think there’s going to be as much of a home-court advantage for anybody in college basketball. When you’re playing at home, the crowd elevates your game. Sometimes it can distract your opponent. I just don’t think that there’s going to be enough people in any building this year to be that distracting. I would venture to say that the home-court advantage won’t be as big as what it what it was pre-COVID.”

On point guard depth after losing Tyrell Jones…

“It obviously hurts our depth. We go with what we had really in the last game. Obviously, without Sharife (Cooper) and then without Turbo (Tyrell Jones), we’re down two point guards. I’m sure that’s going to be a part of a game plan – it’s been for everybody – they’ll press Justin (Powell), they’ll press Al (Allen Flanigan). Arkansas does a great job with their pressure trying to turn people over. That’s going to be something that we’re going to have to handle.”

On the character of the team entering SEC play…

“These guys are prepared, and they’ve respected every opponent. They’ve gotten better and they’ve grown. I’m very proud of them for that. Our shortcomings will not be because they didn’t train or prepare or their want to be coached. Our shortcomings will be physical. Our shortcomings will be a lack of strength. We’re pretty long. But being freshmen and sophomores, our bodies aren’t as developed as some of the older teams. I think Kentucky is a great example of that. Kentucky has always done the best job of any team in the country recruiting the best freshmen in the country and having more one-and-dones and more guys in the NBA because of their talent and the way they develop. But as freshmen in college, 18-year-olds in college, they’re not always as physically developed as older kids. So now you’ve got an era where every transfer is eligible, every fifth year transfer is eligible, every transfer that’s been at three schools is eligible, and they’re 23-24 years old. They’ve got an advantage. I don’t care how talented your 18-year-old kid is. We’re up against that. I liked the position our kids have put themselves in. You know, we’ve got to be able to guard it. And we’ve got to be able to try not to turn it over. The things that Arkansas does, they turn you over, and they’re hard to guard. So those are those are the two areas that we’re going to have to step up, but I like how hard my team has worked.”

On team being excited for SEC play…

“I think we’ve probably developed a little more confidence because we’ve got a chance to play against each other, but I’ll go back to what I said about our preparation. I was extremely impressed that our guys were excited about playing every night. We’re not good enough to show up and beat Appalachian State or Texas Southern or South Alabama. We’re just not. We had to step up and play well to beat them. So that was never an issue. The question is can we now handle the speed, the quickness, the size, the athleticism of the SEC night in and night out? And then what will happen to our confidence? What will happen to our growth? That’s what we’re fixing to find out.”

On first impression of new football coach Bryan Harsin…

“I called him the night he was hired. He called me back the next day. We had a good conversation. I told him how close Coach (Gus) Malzahn and I were and still are, but that I was here for him to help him be successful. It looks to me like we made an incredible hire because he is as good a man as he is a football coach, and he seems to be just a tremendous football coach and a great competitor. We’re all in. I look forward to meeting him in person. Like me, he’s a grinder. So he also knows what I’m doing right now – every day trying to get ready for the SEC season. He’s respectful of that. We have spoken a few times.”

On relating to Harsin, coming in as an outsider to the Auburn Family…

“I’ve been to Boise before. That’s a beautiful part of the country. He stayed at Boise for a long time, which tells you how loyal he is. It tells you how much friends and family really mean to him. He probably passed up a number of other opportunities to stay loyal to the people that got him to where he is. You get to a certain point, though, where you want to see if you can do it against the very best, and obviously he got to that point. He’s excited about that challenge. But I don’t think he comes to Auburn unless he was understood what the Auburn Family was all about. The people are the No. 1 reason that make this place so spectacular. The students that we attract, the faculty that’s here, the people that live in this community, and I told him Auburn is going to give Boise a run for its money as far as a place where your family can be happy, and be comfortable in a church setting, be comfortable in a social setting. This place is going to support you. You could talk about being an outsider, but I’ve got one son-in-law and he’s married to my daughter. He is no outsider. He is my son, and he is a part of my family. He is no less a son to me than Steven or Michael. Auburn people know that, and I think the coaches that do come here, we feel that. That’s why I always tell coaches, ‘Jump in with both feet. Don’t lease. Don’t rent. Buy. And jump in.’ I don’t think he comes to Auburn unless he sensed that as well.”

On defending the 3 against Arkansas…

“The 3 ball will be big. They’ve got a bunch of guys who can shoot it and who are dangerous from out there. The thing about it is you’ve got to guard them from out there. And so if you have to get out there and you have to guard them, they can also go by you. That’s the beautiful thing about the stuff that Eric (Musselman) does. It’s hard to guard, it’s well-spaced, and you’ve got to get out there. Well, if you get out there too far, they can drive right by you. It will be interesting. And obviously they’re great in transition. In transition, they score at a really high rate because they spread the floor, they’ve got guys that can finish, they can play fast. From that standpoint, nobody did a better job of playing fast than Nolan Richardson. I think for the Arkansas fans, they’re going to see a very fast-paced offense and a real commitment to attacking transition defenses, and that’s something that Nolan was known for. Now Nolan was also known for turning you over and pressing and trapping, but the way the rules are now with the verticality and things like that, they basically have taken trapping out of the game. So it’s harder to speed the opponent up. That doesn’t slow Arkansas down one bit.”

Everything Bruce Pearl said ahead of Auburn vs. Appalachian State

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl spoke with the media ahead of the Tigers matchup against Appalachian State.

Opening statement…

“We’ve got one game left before the Christmas break. The plan is to then let the guys go home for a few days, which typically wouldn’t be newsworthy, but in a COVID environment, obviously it’s a factor. Nobody has too terribly far to travel. Everybody will be traveling by car. They’ll hopefully be able to leave after the game on the 22nd and will return to campus on the 26th when we’ll get tested again. We’ll be practicing on the 27th before we start SEC play with Arkansas on the 30th.

“We’ve managed to take every opponent very seriously. We went to Troy last year and had a very competitive scrimmage. That made sure that had our guys’ attention. We’ve got to make sure we have that same attention to Appalachian State. They’re picked to finish ahead of Troy in the Sun Belt. They return nine letterwinners from last season and they’ve got some grad transfers. They’re another older, stronger mid-major team. Teams are only scoring 55 points against them. Teams are shooting 36 percent against them from the field. They do a great job of defending without fouling, which is important. They get to the line themselves. Some of these mid-major teams run really good stuff. Some of these high mid-major teams run more complicated things to guard than some of the teams in the SEC. It doesn’t make their offenses better. When you’re in the SEC or you’re in a Power 5 conference, and you’ve got bigger, stronger athletes at every position, sometimes you’re able to simplify it a little bit because you’ve got the overwhelming talent, size, length or depth. One of the things that helped me as I developed was being a Division II coach for a number of years and being a mid-major coach and having to try to find ways to score when it wasn’t just about the talent on your roster. As a result, the stuff that we’re going up against is hard to guard. If you don’t guard it the right way, it’ll make you look bad. Appalachian State has the ability to do that. Tennessee was the one team that was simply able to physically overwhelm them. Tennessee is one of the most athletic, powerful, strong, deepest teams in America. They just physically overwhelmed App State. (App State) is 6-2 and they had a close loss to Bowling Green. Bowling Green is picked to win the MAC. Tennessee is a team that a lot of people have picked to win the SEC. Those are their only two losses. We’re not picked to win the SEC or the MAC. So, we’ve got to take this opponent very seriously. If we play well, we can win, which you can’t always say when you go up against SEC competition. You still have to play well to win. Had it not been for a couple a big 3s from our guys coming off the bench, Troy outplays us in the second half, even though we played such a great half in the first half against Troy. We’re still a work in progress.”

On the team’s strong defense so far…

“I’ve been pleased. We’ll just see if we can continue that. A lot of times, it’s about matchups. We’ve got a couple of tough matchups and guys that are going to be hard to keep out of the lane and are defending well. We’re getting better. We’re learning a lot. Here’s a crazy advantage: in a quieter arena, you’re able to communicate better. One of the things for me with a young team is I’m able to and they’re able to communicate with themselves better. That has helped us being such a young, inexperienced team. When we do talk our actions, which helps us understand each other what we’re trying to do, because obviously you’ve got to make a physical and verbal read on the guy next to you and try to determine what he’s doing to determine what you need to do defensively. Experiencing it physically, which we do not have a lot of experience, if you can talk your actions, it helps.

On having energy guys (Dylan Cardwell, Chris Moore) off the bench…

“It’s great. And Babatunde (Akingbola). Those three guys there, coming off the bench, are vocal and passionate and play with a motor. You can see it. It does help. It helps defensively. It helps in the locker room. In these buildings or in these games, you’ve got to bring your own energy. When you’re watching it on television or when I’m watching tape, it’s like watching the NBA. You don’t notice a huge difference. There are some crowd noise differences and things like that, but we got used to watching the NBA for so long this summer and early fall that the games don’t look that much different on TV. But they’re much different when you’re there in person. You guys are there covering it, and you can tell the difference. They look more like those preseason intrasquad scrimmages.”

On Stretch being more aggressive offensively…

“Both Dylan (Cardwell) and Stretch (Akingbola) probably are better defensively than they are offensively. I think Dylan’s got a little better offensive feel. But Stretch is going to be open at the rim, and he’s got to be able to find the gaps, be able to catch the ball and finish or kick it out. A lot of that comes from repetition, a lot of it comes from confidence. If he’s open at the rim, that means we’re not open on the perimeter. And so if he’s open at the rim, he’s got to catch it and finish it otherwise they won’t guard him at the rim, which we need them to do. You’ve got to take what the defense gives you. I’m glad to see us get a little bit more of an inside presence from those guys.”

On the development of J.T. Thor…

“I think he’s a little bit more comfortable. I agree. I’m glad. That comes with some repetitions. He’s beginning to see his opportunities. A lot of times a young basketball player, they look at it and ‘Where are my opportunities?’ – either as a passer or a playmaker or a driver or a shooter. We put them in advantage-disadvantage situations, and then he obviously has the athletic ability and the skill level to take advantage of those moments. We’re going to see a different kind of ball-screen coverage against Appalachian State that we haven’t seen all year long. It’s just different. That doesn’t mean it will be really effective, but it will be different. Will we be able to react and respond to it? And then of course as competition continues to step up, how comfortable will we be? But I do think because J.T. is trying to learn and listen and has been really coachable, he wants to understand, and then once he does, you’re not worried about where you’re supposed to be and when. Instead, you get there and then you’re able to make plays.”

LOOK: Bruce Pearl wearing piece of tape on shoe in support of Sharife Cooper

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl is subtlety showing his support for Sharife Cooper.

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl has always had a reputation for being a players’ coach, so it comes as no surprise that the coach is supporting true freshman Sharife Cooper, who has been held out of games so far this season due to eligibility issues.

While “Free Sharife” chants have become popular in Auburn Arena, Pearl has been subtlety letting his feelings be known for the NCAA’s decision, wearing a white piece of tape with the No. 2, Cooper’s number, inked on it.