Bruce Pearl addresses difference in second half vs. Ole Miss

After Ole Miss went up as much as 13 in Oxford this weekend, Auburn stormed back to take their game against the Rebels by 14. It takes a lot to mount a comeback like that but Bruce Pearl saw a few things that saved his Tigers’ skins in the end.

Pearl assessed the comeback for his team during his postgame press conference after the 91-77 win over Ole Miss on Saturday. He noted the quick spurt that they made heading into half to cut the deficit as an important one for momentum’s sake.

“I think the key is the fact that when they were making shots in the first half? And they were and we only turned them over twice in the first half? It was only nine,” said Pearl. “We were still in range.”

Then, in the second half, Pearl gave a lot of credit to Johni Broome. The 6’10 junior did it all during the game for Auburn with 15 points (7-13) to go with nine rebounds, a career-high of seven assists, and three blocks. All of that essentially came over the final 20 minutes as he went for all of his points and posted five of his boards, three of his assists, and two of his blocks in the second half.

That impact of Broome’s against the frontcourt for the Rebels had a significant effect in how the game played out in the end.

“Without (Jamarion) Sharp? They were small. We took advantage of it. But not everybody can take advantage of it, not everybody has Johni Broome. He was able to get in there, seal, and just have his way on the inside,” said Pearl. “Even though we talked in the scouting report that they’re second in the nation in blocked shots? And we talked about some inside-out things if those two centers were out there? I’m saying to Johni Broome that we’re going to get it in to you. But you may get doubled, that there may be some inside out. He was fine. But when he got in there and he got in there deep? He was patient and he scored.”

“I thought they’d come down on him a little bit more. They played him a little more one-on-one than they did the first time,” Pearl said. “He just was the difference on the inside. Then some other guys made shots and then made some plays.”

Ole Miss outscored Auburn by nine in the first half by shooting better than 50% from the field and three. The Tigers had one more three-pointer than them but finished below 40% for the half from the field and distance.

The Tigers then came out of the locker room and exploded for 56 points to win the half by 23 and the game by 14. They shot a blistering 73.3% in the second half, including knocking down 5-8 (62.5%) from deep. Most of that came down low, though, as, like Pearl noted, they took advantage with 32 of their 44 points in the paint coming in the half.

After dropping two straight on the road, Auburn could have rolled over in this one and made it three consecutive. However, they battled back instead in order to take the game in emphatic fashion over the final stretch.

“This team showed a lot of heart, a lot of character,” Pearl said.