Bruce Pearl on how Johni Broome is officiated: ‘I have an issue with that’

Bruce Pearl called out the officiating a bit following Auburn’s buzzer beater loss to Alabama Saturday. He complained on how Johni Broome was officiated, particularly when Broome took contact in the paint.

Broome finished the game with 34 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and five blocks. However, it wasn’t enough for Pearl’s squad in the 93-91 loss.

Broome was two-of-five on free throws and Pearl was curious as to why there weren’t more.

“Johni Broome took fifteen or sixteen of his first shots inside the paint and did not get fouled once,” Pearl said postgame. “And I have an issue with that. He could be the national player there and he took fifteen or sixteen shots from two and then he didn’t shoot a free throw. That’s hard to overcome.”

Broome had a chance in the final possession of regulation, but it did not go as planned. Pearl and Auburn saw Alabama celebrate following the buzzer beater in overtime.

“I don’t even know exactly what it was,” Pearl said. “I mean, obviously when Johni knocked the three down from the corner. That was not a design play. I mean, it was a result. It was a result of what we ran. He was open because they play off the four on a lot of things. And so whatever we ran, he’s just unguarded. And so that’s why the ball got to him. But it wasn’t designed. It was because the defense wasn’t guarding him on a perimeter and as a result knocked down two big threes late.”

Scoring 91 should lead you to a win, as Pearl alluded to. But they fell to their rival in heartbreaking fashion. Pearl was also asked about Alabama’s 52 points in the paint, speaking of Broome taking a lot of twos early on and not getting fouled.

“Just beat us on some closeouts and, you know, a number of different guys, you know, you could point to that got beat on closeouts and that’s just something that, you know, they’re good at, Pearl said. “They’re really good one on one team.

“You know, you score 91, you should be good enough to win. I don’t think we defended well enough. We didn’t rebound well enough. And, you know, it doesn’t matter. We play them there, they shoot 35 free throws. We play them here, they shoot, you know, 24. So, they’re always shooting more free throws than us. Partly it’s because the way they drive the ball downhill and again, hard to overcome.”