Bruce Pearl talks Houston win, updates player availability, what's next for Tahaad Pettiford and more

AUBURN — Yes, Auburn’s win over Houston was arguably the program’s best regular season win ever. It was the highest-ranked win in non-conference history, and one program source said postgame it was the best regular season win in the Bruce Pearl era.

The win vaulted the Tigers from No. 11 in the AP Poll to No. 5, and made Auburn the No. 1 team in the newest KenPom ratings, something they have never accomplished before Saturday night.

But all Pearl saw was one important win, with the entire season to go.

“That’s really all it was, was one game,” Pearl said. “It was a great win over Houston, historic, based on the rankings of the teams and it gives us a barometer of where we are right now. It’s a long season. We have a lot to work on and a lot of challenges in front of us. I was proud of our kids. I was proud of just the unselfishness.”

Auburn was led in scoring by Tahaad Pettiford, Johni Broome and Chaney Johnson. The trio combined for 52 of the Tigers’ 74 points.

“I was proud of Johni’s leadership and I was proud of the unselfishness,” Pearl said. “Some of the guys didn’t either score as much as they normally score or had different moments during the course of the game where they weren’t as good as they can be, but they were just as happy after the win as if they had a dominating performance.”

Auburn returned to the practice court on Monday. Both freshman Jahki Howard and Ja’Heim Hudson were in attendance, having gone to class earlier in the day. Pearl said the program is handling their situation “head-on,” but did not provide an update on their immediate status.

Auburn Live provided an update via sources on Howard and Hudson’s availability for Wednesday night’s game.

As for the team, Pearl said they stepped foot on the court “humble and hungry” after the monster win, as another quality mid-major comes into Neville Arena. Kent State is currently No. 130 in the updated KenPom ratings.

“They recognize that we’ve got a Kent State team coming in tomorrow that is picked third in the MAC, that’s been to the NCAA Tournament several times, their coach has beaten Power Five teams, I think four times at Kent State in his career on the road. I know they played Gonzaga really tough and they’re old in their experience. They are deep, quick, very well coached.”

BRIEF THOUGHTS AND GRADES: AUBURN OVER HOUSTON

Pearl is eager to see if his team can maintain consistent focus and energy following a win that could easily inflate a team’s ego.

“Can we play with the same energy? A sense of urgency?” Pearl said. “Because look, if you didn’t put yourself in the right place against Houston and you were late, they were going to make you pay. That’s what you have to do to survive an opponent like that. We’d like to play that way every night.”

Here’s more from Pearl:

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Denver Jones and JP Pegues have not committed a foul in two games. That’s impressive. Pearl commented on that and the team’s ability to play defense without fouling.

“The art of not fouling and playing great defense and playing hard is really an art. And, you know, particularly for Denver, I think he’s one of the best defensive guards in the country, and he came here as the leading scorer in Conference USA, averaging 21 a game. He has just been so unselfish and such an amazing teammate. He has become a great defender, which is going to make him more attractive at the next level because we know what he can do offensively.

“We know he can shoot the basketball and get downhill. And now he’s playing some point guard. He’s going to be a really good pro. And JP Is just so solid. He takes great care of the basketball. He can make open shots, doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. And really, he’s got a good feel and instincts defensively, and he knows he’s on a team where defense is really enforced and required.”

It will be hard for Pettiford to top scoring 21 points, hitting five threes and dishing out three assists against arguably the nation’s best team in his second career game. Pearl said there shouldn’t be an issue keeping Pettiford humble.

“I can’t tell you the things that I’ve told him so to keep his head on straight. I’m happy for him because, you know, being a little undersized, people have always respected Tahaad’s game, but he’s always had to look up to a bunch of other guys in his class that were just prototypically bigger, stronger, more highly rated. That never bothered Tahaad. I don’t think he plays with a chip on his shoulder, but he knows he’s as good as the best freshman in the country, and obviously got a chance to show it on that stage in that moment. He is a freshman, so he’s gonna have, like, the Dow Jones, he’ll be up and down some, but he’s really coachable. He’s been a great teammate.

“He wants to get better, comes from great family. I’ve said this several times, the importance of families, trying to have that foundation for those kids. So many of our best players and our pros and guys that have just made it through college in flying colors, had great support at home, and that’s certainly the case, but Tahaad’s got work to do. But, boy, oh, boy…if he can see it, he can make it. And that ball wasn’t even touching the net. That’s how that thing was going through the cylinder. He’s got to build on it.”

Pearl talked even more about Pettiford when asked…

“He can make special plays and special reads. Quite frankly, with Miles (Kelly) and Chad Baker (Mazara) and with Denver all on the wing, there aren’t as many minutes for him on the wing as I thought there were. It kind of pushed him into the point guard competition with Denver and JP. We’re going to play three point guards. We will, just because I need to have those guys.”

Chris Moore played 16 minutes off the bench against Houston, only scoring two points, but playing quality defense, as he’s done his entire career.

“He stayed right and ready. And we had talked to CMo a few days earlier just about that. Not that I’d be the least worried about him not staying right and ready, but I just wanted to remind him the importance that we all know everybody on that bench at some point is going to get an opportunity and they could be ready for it when the opportunity presents itself. I thought Chris was good on his 1-on-1 closeouts against some of Houston’s best guards where they simply couldn’t go by him, where he stayed on the floor.

“And the thing I loved about it with our bench is our bench gets as jacked up over that as they did somebody making a three ball. You know, Dylan (Cardwell) getting out of stance and keeping a guard in front and challenging or Chaney (Johnson) just taking some pride in their one on one defense. And look, that’s going to serve us well if it can continue.”

Pearl really praised assistant Ira Bowman for his substitution patterns in the win…

“I think I give coach Bowman credit. Ira helps me with the substitution. I think Ira did a great job with the substitution patterns. One thing he does a great job, is he asked me who do you want? Particularly in the last four minutes? I just felt like that was the group right there. Miles could certainly and will certainly be our there at the end of games, but in this game, I felt like we had out there was going to get it done.”

It was somewhat of a tough game for Baker-Mazara, who scored zero points in eight minutes with two fouls against Houston. But, while he committed two more fouls in the second half, he bounced back with seven points in 10 minutes.

“They are still young men. Chad in particular is incredibly passionate, he gets emotional, and he was ready to play. I could see him in warmups. I could see him in the pregame. He was really locked in. Then he gets those two fouls. It’s been a long offseason, this is an opportunity for him to get back into it and two quick fouls, he’s really disrupted. It took him and the team towards the end of the game to get him back where he got right and ready, got himself back into a good state to be able to come out there and finish the game and help us win.”