Steven Pearl singles out Johni Broome, Chad Baker-Mazara, erupts on Auburn effort in win vs. Alabama State

While the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Auburn Tigers, managed to pull away from Alabama State in the second half, that doesn’t mean their coaches were pleased with their effort after the game. As a matter of fact, Steven Pearl was furious, and they let everybody know about it in their postgame remarks.

No. 16 seed Alabama State even had the chance to take the lead late in the first half, pulling to within 32-31 with 1:27 left in the first half. Luckily for the Tigers, they managed to put the pesky 16-seed away in the second half, pulling away for an 83-63 win. But Auburn will face a much tougher opponent in the second round, the No. 9 seed Creighton Bluejays, armed with plenty of talent. And Steven Pearl and the Tigers’ coaches are well aware of that. Which is exactly why they into their team in the postgame.

Steven Pearl challenged the Auburn players

“Johni [Broome] and Chad [Baker-Mazara] have to be better. They have to be better in all aspects of the game. If they are not, we will not win. I’d imagine Coach will challenge them pretty hard right now. They didn’t bring it tonight and I have no idea why. No idea,” Steven Pearl said.

“I thought the rest of the guys competed well. The rest were excited to be here, but when our two best players play like that, our chances of beating a really good team are going to go down. We have to find ways as a staff to get more out of them,” Pearl said.

The effort of his squad infuriated him. The Tigers committed 12 total turnovers, missed 14 free throws, and for large portions of the game, looked sloppy and not interested. And Pearl continued to let his players know that type of effort is unacceptable and simply won’t cut it against a high-quality opponent like Creighton.

“To come out in the NCAA Tournament with that energy and effort, that’s why we lost last year. We have to be so much friggin’ better than what we are right now. If I’m Creighton, I’m licking my chops right now. I’m really excited to play us, if I’m a Creighton coach. We have a lot to figure out in the next 24-36 hours if we’re going to beat a really good team. Not good enough. Really poor,” Pearl finished.

Pearl and the Auburn coaches are wise to be alarmed at their players’ effort, especially after the early exit last year against Yale. No. 13 seeded Yale ousted the Tigers 78-76 last season in the first round. And the Auburn coaches don’t want to see a repeat with their team this year.