Bruce Pearl shares thoughts on Arkansas matchup

Arkansas and Auburn will make their debut appearance in the 2023 SEC Tournament on Thursday, but only one team will be able to advance to the quarterfinals. This isn’t the first time these two teams have squared off, as Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl previewed his upcoming matchup as it related to the last time his team faced the Razorbacks.

“Arkansas is really talented, really deep, really athletic,” Pearl said. “We played great here at home, they weren’t at full strength because they didn’t have Nick Smith.”

Smith missed a majority of the season with a knee injury, but has been effective for the Razorbacks since his return to the lineup. Since being reinserted into the starting lineup, the freshman has scored in double figures in each game, including three 20-plus point games where he’s led his team in scoring.

There’s no question that Smith presents a new challenge for the Tigers, as their 72-59 win over Arkansas in January was highlighted by a key defensive adjustment.

“They were at a time in their season when they weren’t shooting the ball well at all and we took full advantage of it by playing 40 possessions of zone. We probably have played 80 possessions of zone on the season, 40 of them in that game,” Pearl explained.

Arkansas shot 33.9% from the field and 12.5% from the three-point line in their previous matchup with Auburn. The Razorbacks haven’t shot that poorly in a game since, and currently boast the conference’s second-best field goal percentage at 47.5%

“But that was just because Arkansas was struggling so much from the three, you look at their last five games they’re shooting 38% from three, Devo Davis is making two a game, Nick’s making two a game, (Ricky)Council, they’re shooting it. So zone is not going to be the answer this time around,” Pearl said. “So I’d say it’ll be a tough matchup and all we want.”

The Razorbacks have improved their shooting throughout the season, but lost their last three games of the regular season. Auburn on the other hand is fresh off of a huge win in their senior day and final game of the season over Tennessee, where a 49-point second half scoring outburst helped propel them to victory.

The Tigers and Razorbacks will tip off Thursday at 7:00 p.m. ET airing on SEC Network, and the winner will take on Texas A&M on Friday at the same time.