Bruce Pearl recalls ‘easy’ halftime speech vs. Creighton

No. 1 seed Auburn trailed No. 9 seed Creighton at halftime during the Tigers’ Round of 32 matchup last weekend. Auburn would come out in the second half on fire, scoring 47 points during the final 20 minutes and outscoring the Bluejays by 14 points.

After the 82-70 victory, head coach Bruce Pearl was asked to reveal the halftime speech that he gave his team to spark the Tigers’ second half run. Pearl was straightforward with his squad in the locker room while Auburn trailed.

“The halftime talk was easy: ‘Guys, they’ve banged nine threes, we’ve missed a couple of inside shots, we’re shooting 30% and we’re down a bucket, are you kidding me?’ Creighton has got to go into the halftime thinking how are we only up by 2 points?,” Pearl explained. “… But we made some offense out of our defense, and we were more dominant on the boards, particularly got some offensive rebounding baskets. We found a way to manufacture enough points to still be in the game.

“I thought we were in great shape at halftime considering how well Creighton played and the margin was what it was.”

Pearl believed in his team, and they executed to his expectation in the second half. Despite star big man Johni Broome being held to eight points, he was still able to haul in 12 rebounds — a game-high — while some of his other teammates covered for him in the scoring category.

Chad Baker-Mazara led the Tigers’ starting lineup with 17 points on 6 of 12 shooting, which included two-made 3-pointers. Denver Jones scored 15 as well. However, it was star freshman Tahaad Pettiford who come off the bench to lead Auburn to victory with 23 points, six rebounds and three assists.

The victory was good for Auburn’s 30th of the year, and advances the Tigers through to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Despite the program’s success in recent years, this is Auburn’s first Sweet 16 since 2019 — the year Bruce Pearl led the Tigers to the first Final Four in program history.

They’re set to take on the Big Ten Tournament champions, five-seeded Michigan in Atlanta on Friday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:39 p.m. ET and will air live on CBS with the winner earning a spot in the Elite Eight.

Auburn is currently an 8.5-point favorite coming into the game, according to FanDuel SportsBook. The over/under is set at 153.5.