Bruce Pearl jokes about facing John Calipari: 'He's in the Hall of Fame, I'm on the Wall of Shame'

The Auburn Tigers survived a low-scoring battle with the Arkansas Razorbacks on Wednesday that pitted two of the most well-respected coaches in college basketball against one another, Bruce Pearl and John Calipari.

After the game, Pearl was asked about going up against “another Hall of Fame coach,” which he quickly corrected with a joke. After all, while Calipari is in the Hall of Fame, Pearl hasn’t made it yet.

“He’s the only one in the Hall of Fame,” Bruce Pearl said. “So I don’t know if there’s another Hall of Fame coach. He’s in the Hall of Fame, I’m on the Wall of Shame.”

Pearl and Calipari have met plenty of times before. Calipari took over at Kentucky while Pearl was still at Tennessee and since 2014, he’s been the head coach at Auburn, building that program in the same conference as Calipari. The two also played while Calipari was the head coach at Memphis.

In this latest matchup, Pearl had the upper hand on Calipari, winning 67-60. However, that came in a game where the Razorbacks defense did play well. Auburn was held to just 40.3 percent shooting from the field and just 16.7 percent from three-point range. That, along with 12 turnovers, put Auburn in a tough spot.

“John Calipari’s teams have always guarded my teams very well,” Pearl said. “And they did once again tonight.”

While Pearl might have jokes about where he stands in basketball compared to a coach like Calipari, he has found plenty of success at Auburn. That’s made him one of the most important modern SEC coaches, according to Paul Finebaum.

“Well, I think, I think it just continues to solidify his role as, really, one of the most important coaches, really, in modern SEC history,” Finebaum said. “I think he had already done that to a degree but there was just something really special about Saturday. I know the game was fairly disappointing for a lot of fans but it was still a, it was still a magical moment for anybody who has watched college basketball in this state for any amount of years, especially for as long as I have.”

Pearl now has Auburn at 24-2 on the season and looking like a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament. With five games remaining in the regular season, Pearl and the Tigers are looking to finish off a special season on the right note.