Bruce Pearl on Auburn's win over Kentucky: 'We didn't win a championship'

Auburn picked up a huge victory on Saturday at home against Kentucky. The Tigers won the game 80-71, improving to 18-1 on the season, including a perfect 7-0 mark against SEC opponents. But Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl understands that his team’s fight is far from finished.

“Well I think we held serve. We did what we’re supposed to do,” Pearl said of Auburn’s win over Kentucky. “This was an incredible opportunity to have Kentucky at home. Both teams are playing very well. So with TyTy (Washington) going down and us being at home, we did what we’re supposed to do.

“There wasn’t a lot of water splashing around in our locker room. We didn’t win a championship. We’re not cutting down nets. We were good enough today to beat a really good team. A team that could be good enough to get to the Final Four. So now we got work to do.”

Auburn trailed 33-29 at halftime. Kentucky led by as much as ten. But Auburn had an impressive second half, outscoring Kentucky 51-38. The Tigers had four players score in double digits, led by forward/center Walker Kessler, who had 19 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Pearl knows that Auburn has tough tests awaiting

Following Auburn’s impressive victory, the Tigers took control of the top spot in the latest AP top 25 poll. But despite a rise in the polls, Pearl knows that Auburn needs to continue taking care of business in the future. If they don’t, the polls being put out in January will mean nothing.

“We got to go on the road this week to Missouri,” Pearl added. “They beat Alabama. They’re a big, strong, physical team and there’s a big prize on our head. And then Saturday with Oklahoma. And those guys guard as well as anybody. I say that because they guard a lot like we do. They don’t have quite the rim protection we do, but boy, the way they fundamentally guard. So these next two games are going to be two extremely physical opponents and that’s what we got to do. We just got to keep working, keep getting better, keep staying humble, hungry.”

Missouri is 8-10 overall and 2-4 against SEC opponents. They recently picked up a win over Ole Miss and suffered close losses against Alabama and Texas A&M. Oklahoma is currently 12-7 and 2-5 against the Big 12. The Sooners are currently on a four-game losing streak that includes three losses against ranked teams (Texas, Kansas, Baylor).