Bruce Pearl pushes back on narrative veteran Auburn players hold NCAA Tournament advantage

Bruce Pearl pushed back on the narrative that Auburn has an advantage with veteran players in the NCAA Tournament. Sure, the guys have a lot of minutes underneath them, but not necessarily tournament experience.

Auburn advanced to the Sweet 16 with an 82-70 win over Creighton. But it was the young bucks that took over in the second half.

So naturally, Pearl questioned that Auburn had this distinct advantage. They’re a great team, but it’s a level playing field throughout the NCAA Tournament.

“I think it’s always an advantage when you have older guys, but my older guys haven’t been here before,” Pearl said postgame. “Creighton’s been to the Sweet 16 four out of last five years. Those guys on that team have been to the Sweet 16 for three or four of the last five years. I don’t have anybody on our team. One of the best performers in the second half was a freshman. So some of that experience thing, it’s important, but it wasn’t the factor tonight.”

Tahaad Pettiford, a freshman, had one heck of a game. In 32 minutes, he put up 23 points, six rebounds and three assists in the win.

Pearl’s crew had three guys in double digits and none of them were Johni Broome, the team’s star player. Chad Baker-Mazara and Denver Jones put up 17 and 15 points each, respectively.

Despite a rough end to the season, losing three of their last four games, Auburn is back on the right track. Now, Pearl and Auburn are four wins away from a national title.

“As I said yesterday, Thursday was the first NCAA win for a lot of our guys,” Pearl said. “We haven’t been past the first weekend since 2019, when we got to the Final Four. Being the number 1 overall seed it would have been disappointing if we didn’t do it again. We got upset by Miami as a number 2 seed a few years ago with Walker Kessler and Jabari Smith.

“But we played a team in Creighton tonight that is as good as the teams we will see in Atlanta, whether it was Michigan or Texas A&M or I’m not sure who the other two are — Michigan State, who does Michigan State play? New Mexico? Okay, but we knew Creighton was going to be as good as anybody we would see on the road to the Final Four. I feel that way. Hopefully this is something we could build on.”