Bruce Pearl raves about his confidence in Lior Berman, Jaylin Williams

Auburn was down one of its starters Saturday against Mississippi State with Chris Moore out due to injury.

The Tigers had an experienced bench player in Allen Flanigan to fill the starting spot, but there were some left over minutes for someone to pick up the slack. That opportunity fell to senior walk-on Lior Berman.

Bruce Pearl was quite happy with how Berman played.

“Lior was solid defensively,” Pearl said. “He got pressured in the first half. They thought we were kind of take advantage of him a little bit and he spun off and pulled up and made a shot. Late in the second half late the shot clock, he was able to get off a three-ball, which was hard because it was late in the clock. He pinches it off, but the fact that he got it off and didn’t turn over, Dylan Caldwell then got that offensive rebound. That was a big play by the Lior.”

Berman even got some big minutes during crunch time, which Pearl said says a lot about what he thinks of the senior 6-foot-4 guard/forward.

“Obviously he’s out there at the end of the game so it shows you what my confidence level is,” Pearl said.

In addition to Lior Berman, Bruce Pearl praised Jaylin Williams

Lior Berman might have drawn eyeballs for stepping up when his name was called, Jaylin Williams deserves credit his all-around performance.

Williams was arguably the best player on the floor, scoring a game-high 21 points and seven rebounds. He shot an efficient 8 of 15 from the field while going 5-for-7 from deep.

“I thought Jaylin Williams, one of the best games I’ve ever seen him play,” Pearl said. Everyone will point to the five threes but it was as hard and his physical as I’ve ever seen him play. I’m mean the kid Cameron Matthews. He’s one of the biggest, strongest athletes in college basketball. He’s just a monster man, and Jalen did everything he possibly could to keep him at bay and keep him off the glass. If you want to give anybody credit for winning this game, give it to Jaylin Williams.”