Bruce Pearl opens up on what winning 20 games means

Auburn secured their 20th win of the season in dominant fashion on Wednesday night, defeating No. 11 ranked South Carolina 101-61 to represent the program’s largest margin of victory in school history versus a ranked opponent.

The Tigers have been unstoppable in Neville Arena this season, remaining undefeated on their home floor this year by winning their 16th straight home game dating back to last season. After the game, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl spoke about the significance of securing win number 20, which he was unaware of until it was brought to his attention following the victory.

“That’s interesting, I didn’t even know that was our 20th,” Pearl admitted. “That’s sort of a number that matters to coaches, we pay attention to 20. We play so many games now, more games, that 20 doesn’t mean quite as much as it used to, but 20 was always kind of a benchmark a little bit.”

“Like 21 wins, which we had last year, was the 11th most wins in the history of Auburn basketball. 21 last year. So we talk about trying to make history and this team is trying to make history.”

It was a historic night in many ways for the Tigers, scoring 100 points versus the SEC’s top defense to secure their ninth win in conference play this season. As they sit atop the SEC standings alongside the Gamecocks and Alabama as the only nine-win teams in the conference.

The Gamecocks are the third ranked SEC opponent that Auburn has defeated this season, as they’ll look to add another to their resume when No. 22 Kentucky pays them a visit on Saturday in one of the most highly anticipated conference games of the season.

“There’s no better opportunity than having Kentucky, national television, College GameDay. I’m so happy for Auburn, it’s going to be a gorgeous weekend, we have students sleeping out already right now for the game,” Pearl said on Wednesday night after the game.

“The weather’s good, there are gonna be some fun activities out there for our students. So it’ll be a great great weekend and I want our kids to be able to enjoy it and at the same time we work all year long for these opportunities.”

Wednesday night represented the 52nd consecutive sellout at Neville Arena, with that streak definitely continuing this weekend. As ESPN’s CollegeGame Day will kick off at 10 a.m. ET on The Plains and the game starting at 6 p.m., with both events airing on ESPN.