Bruce Pearl believes Auburn has championship ceiling: 'We're afraid of nobody'

Don’t look now, but Bruce Pearl isn’t putting any limits on how high his Auburn Tigers squad can climb in 2024.

The Tigers have looked tremendous throughout the 2023-2024 campaign, especially at home, and ESPN’s College GameDay came to town ahead of their clash with the Kentucky Wildcats. Ahead of the showdown, Pearl sat down with the crew, where he elaborated on Auburn’s ceiling.

“I think if we continue to defend, right? If we can continue to make it hard for people to score, and if we can just continue to share the ball,” Pearl began to explain. “So if at the end of the game, if our assist numbers are up, if we’re creating some offense with our defense, obviously if we stay healthy, bottom line — when the players decide we’re going to win a championship, we’re going to win a championship.

“I can help them win some games. I can. I can’t championships — players win championships. You know that. Players win championships. These guys are bought in, and they’ve been grinding. They respect their opponents. We’re afraid of nobody.”

That’s the exact attitude we’ve seen from Pearl’s team throughout the season. They fear no opponent, and that’s been reflected throughout the season. We’ll see if that remains true when Kentucky comes to town on Saturday, and throughout the remainder of their campaign.

Kentucky vs. Auburn Odds for Saturday

With one of the nation’s most hostile and most effective home-court advantages, the Auburn Tigers have not disappointed their fans in 2023-24, and they are the favorites across the board against Kentucky this afternoon/evening. 

Arguably no team in the country is benefitted by their home venue as much as Auburn, who is 13-0 in front of The Jungle this season with their smallest margin of victory being 11 points against Texas A&M. They just lost to Florida by 16 points on the road and then rebounded to pound No. 11 South Carolina 101-61 at home. Now, GameDay comes to town along with an up-and-down but talented Kentucky team. 

According to FanDuel, Auburn is the home favorite by 8.5 points as of Saturday morning. On the surface, that sounds pretty large, but remember, the Tigers’ closest home game this season was decided by double figures. So even if Kentucky misses by one point to lose by nine, well, that’d still be the best effort yet vs. Auburn. 

That’s why Bruce Pearl’s club is also heavy favorites on the money line at -385 compared to Kentucky’s +300. Meanwhile, the over/under is set at a lofty 164.5 points.

On3’s Alex Weber contributed to this article.