Bruce Pearl responds to criticism of Auburn mid-court dance routine

Prior to Auburn’s mid-week loss against Arkansas, the Tigers came under criticism for dancing on the mid-court logo in Bud Walton Arena. However, head coach Bruce Pearl defended the season-long tradition of mid-court dance routines despite the ire of Eric Musselman and Arkansas fans alike.

On ESPN’s College GameDay, which is hosted live from Auburn this week, Pearl joined the panel to defend his players as they continued the tradition on their own floor Saturday.

“Look at our guys dancing,” Bruce Pearl said as the broadcast showed his players dancing at mid-court. “Oh, by the way, at Auburn, we dance. We do. I want the kids to have fun, and I want our student body to have fun. We’ve got a tough game tonight. We’re taking Texas A&M very seriously.”

Here’s Auburn dancing on their own logo during warmups. How dare them. pic.twitter.com/1cD8Fa5sDr

— Justin Hokanson (@_JHokanson) February 12, 2022

Auburn looks to bounce back from its second loss of the season on Saturday, hosting Texas A&M at Auburn Arena. The game is scheduled to tip-off at noon E.T. on ESPN, directly following the conclusion of College GameDay on the sideline. The Tigers enter the game as heavy favorites over a struggling Texas A&M which has lost each of its last five games.

More on mid-court dance routine

After a thrilling overtime upset over Auburn this week, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman made a point to call out the perceived pregame disrespect that motivated the Razorbacks. Arkansas ultimately topped the Tigers 80-76 in an overtime finish that set arena attendance and television viewership records.

“It was awesome, what a game! You know, they danced on our logo before the game — we watched that,” said Musselman after the game. “What a great win for this program, it’s so awesome! I thought we played with incredible toughness. Auburn did a great job on the backboards, they offensive rebound, they’re physical, they’re long, they’re strong — but our guys didn’t back down, we went toe-to-toe with them.”

Whether Auburn’s pregame actions came in an attempt to frustrate Arkansas or simply continue a season-long pregame tradition which helped them secure a No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll, the act fired up both the crowd and the players on the way to an upset.

“We thought we were gonna win,” said Musselman. “We walked in here, we thought we were winning this basketball game. The locker room felt it before the game, we thought it in shootaround and then we went out and did it.”