Bruce Pearl goes NSFW describing his guards to ESPN after win over Ole Miss

Bruce Pearl has the utmost confidence in his Auburn guards to handle their business inside the paint. And the 11-year Tigers head coach isn’t afraid to let the world know it.

Pearl proved that following Friday’s 62-57 win over eighth-seeded Ole Miss in the quarterfinals of the 2025 SEC Tournament. The coach dropped some rather explicit language while making that point on the ESPN set shortly after the game.

“The key to our 3-point line defense is I’ve got bigs that can get out and guard guards, and my guards aren’t p*ssies,” a hyped-up Pearl said live on the ESPN set from inside Bridestone Arena in Nashville. “They’re going to go down there and bang a little bit. (Laughter) … ESPN and Disney aren’t writing my checks right now, Auburn is, OK. So I can get away with that.”

Bruce Pearl on ESPN:

"My guards aren't p*ssies."

(h/t @AdamZagoria) pic.twitter.com/85IJQ62l5n

— On3 (@On3sports) March 14, 2025

Top-seeded Auburn (28-4, 15-3 SEC) advances to the SEC Tournament semifinals Saturday and will play the winner of Friday’s second tournament quarterfinal between fourth-seeded Tennessee and No. 13-seed Texas. The No. 3 Tigers were led with 23 points and 15 rebounds by senior forward Johni Broome, who was sitting next to Pearl on the ESPN set and immediately began laughing at his head coach’s locker room language.

Two of those Auburn guards Pearl was talking about, seniors Denver Jones and Miles Kelly, added 13 and nine points, respectively. Ole Miss was led offensively with four players in double-figures, with senior guards Dre Davis and Sean Pedulla scoring 12 points apiece, while senior guard Jaylen Murray and junior forward Malik Dia added 10 points apiece Friday.

Bruce Pearl fires back at questions regarding Chad Baker-Mazara, conversations after ejection

Auburn is ready to turn the page on a fantastic regular season, even if the finale ended tumultuously. A loss to Alabama on Senior Day was highlighted by Chad Baker-Mazara being ejected from the game for elbowing Chris Youngblood and receiving a Flagrant 2 foul. Since then, Baker-Mazara has been the biggest talking point of SEC champions.

Now heading to Nashville, Bruce Pearl said “We’re good” when it comes to Baker-Mazara in the upcoming SEC Tournament. The two have talked with one another and despite being pressed for more information on those conversations, Pearl wants to keep things private.

“Don’t you think my conversations with him should be my conversations with him? Regardless of if it’s a retaliation…it’s unacceptable. But I’m not going to talk to you about my conversations with all my players,” Pearl said.

For the second consecutive March, Baker-Mazara has been ejected from a massive game. Last season’s NCAA Tournament first-round game against Yale saw him commit a Flagrant 2 foul, having to leave just three minutes into the game. Auburn went on to lose the game and end what was thought to be a potential deep run.

— On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.