Bruce Pearl speaks about importance of getting bye week during SEC schedule

Auburn came up short this weekend against Kentucky to fall to 20-6 overall and 9-4 in the SEC. The Tigers will now take a week off before they take the floor again next weekend in Athens.

Bruce Peal knows his team needs those days off too. As he said during his postgame press conference after the 70-59 loss to the Wildcats, it has been a long battle for them over their first 26 games. Now, with them right in the mix both in the Southeastern Conference and for the NCAA Tournament, he knows his team needs some rest before the home stretch heading into the postseason.

“Well, listen. We play Georgia next Saturday. We get a bye this week and we need a bye,” said Pearl.

“Our kids? Listen. Our guys? They’ve been grinding. I’m telling you,” Pearl said. “I’m so proud of them for the position that they’re in right now. I really am.”

Auburn cracked the AP Poll at the turn of the new year and has been surging ever since. They were in the Top-10 by the end of January and will remain amongst the top teams in the conference and nationally even following their loss to UK, which was their second in the last three games.

However, if the Tigers want to stay in that discussion, Pearl admitted that backcourt production would need to improve over this week. Tre Donaldson, Aden Holloway, and K.D. Johnson struggled altogether and in respective ways against the Wildcats as a rotation that has needed some shifts over this season.

That’s why, with five games to go, Pearl particularly wants to know what he has in his guards over the next few days.

“We need to get better guard play,” Pearl said. “I mean it’s clear. We need to get better guard play and we’ll see if those guys can figure it out.”

Auburn took a hit, both in record and in general, on Saturday in a primetime opportunity. Now, with a couple days to themselves, Pearl is going to let his Tigers rest and reset ahead of their march towards March.

“We’ll take a couple of days off this week. We will and they need it. They need it,” said Pearl. “They’ve earned it. We’ll see if we can regroup a little bit.”

Pearl addresses recent ups and downs from Auburn, ceiling for season

Like many teams, Auburn has recently experienced a roller coaster of a February. Bruce Pearl is now just trying to stay calm through the peaks and valleys.

The Tigers started out at 16-2 and won their first five conference games before going just 4-4 over the last eight. Still, according to Pearl, such streaks are going to happen in such a tough league.

“I mean I’m not worried about it,” he said after consecutive weekend losses to Florida and Kentucky. “I kind of go in sort of expecting to see this at times against the best teams on our schedule.”

“You know how I felt about this team from the very beginning. I said this is a good team with a chance to be a very good team,” Pearl said. “What they’ve shown is they’re a very good team with a chance to maybe a great team. We weren’t very good tonight.”