Bruce Pearl takes time to congratulate every Alabama basketball team

The state of Alabama is going to be well-represented in the NCAA Tournament this year. Auburn coach Bruce Pearl realized that, and made sure to shout each one of them out in his press conference this week.

Auburn is one of four teams from the state to make it to March Madness, joining Alabama, Jacksonville State and UAB. In fact, Jacksonville State is Auburn’s opponent in the first round on Friday in Greenville, SC at 12:40 p.m. ET. As he game plans for the Gamecocks, Pearl still congratulated them for advancing.

“I want to congratulate Alabama, congratulate Jacksonville State, congratulate UAB and, of course, Auburn,” Pearl told reporters on Monday. “Four Division I teams going to the NCAA Tournament, many other teams had really good years. Troy had really good years, Samford made a lot of progress, North Alabama made progress.

“There are a lot of good college basketball teams that made it. I think there are a couple of Division III teams that made the tournament. So it was a good year for college basketball, so far, in the state of Alabama.”

Bruce Pearl reveals challenges Auburn now faces due to early SEC Tournament exit

Bruce Pearl was hoping Auburn would run through the SEC Tournament, gaining another accolade to his time with the Tigers. However, it wasn’t in the cards for Auburn — the Texas A&M Aggies sent them home to await the NCAA Tournament.

Instead of battling for a trophy, Auburn is turning their attention to the NCAA Tournament now. Following their early exit from the SEC Tournament, Pearl revealed the challenges the Tigers now face.

“We’ve got to find a way to get the guys’ confidence back a little bit with the shots. There’s a reason,” stated Pearl. “Look, if you look at our percentages, our numbers in the league, defensively and rebounding and blocked shots and steals and pretty good in field goal percentage, assist-turnover ratio. We have great numbers.

“Our three point field goal percentage is very low. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist. The kids even said it. They said they kind of let us — they kind of backed off, packed it in, made it really difficult for us to get to the rim or to get it inside because of — and the only way you change that is by making a couple of shots.

“And so we’re going to see. We’ll see more of that.”