Everything Bruce Pearl said the day before Auburn faces Houston in the NCAA Tournament

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl spoke to the media on Friday afternoon inside Legacy Arena in Birmingham, as the 9-seed Tigers are set to face off against 1-seed Houston on Saturday evening.

Auburn is fresh off a 83-75 win over 8-seed Iowa in the first round of the tournament. Houston battled a tough Northern Kentucky team, ultimately pulling away for a 63-52 win.

RELATED: THINGS I’M THINKING ABOUT AFTER AUBURN’S WIN OVER IOWA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

Here’s everything Pearl said to the media:

Q. How much does it affect your game plan not knowing the status of Marcus Sasser, when he plays, he is limited, their other guard Jamal Shead has a knee issue, how much does that affect you, or does it?

BRUCE PEARL: We’re planning on him playing. He tried to go the other night against Northern Kentucky. He was okay offensively, but when he had to just plant, really sit down and guard, you could tell it wasn’t 100 percent.

But we’re expecting him to be out there. And he makes a big difference for him because he is such a dynamic offensive player. You know, one of the best guards in the entire country.

So we anticipate he’ll play.

Q. How cool is it for you that a guy like Jaylin says he hopes Marcus is healthy and can play and doesn’t want to see him have to sit out?

BRUCE PEARL: Jaylin Williams said that? We’ve got great kids. We do. We’ve got great kids in our program. You know, the other day just on social media Zep Jasper got asked a question about Alabama, and he talked about that Alabama is a team that could win a national championship. They’re seeded No. 1. They’re our arch-rivals. We don’t like Alabama. They don’t like Auburn, but we respect them and they’re in our league. If Auburn doesn’t win the national championship and Zep Jasper respects them as an opponent and as somebody from the league and in the state of Alabama, that’s what — there aren’t many kids that are like that. So Jaylin Williams, hey, I hope he is healthy, I hope he is ready to go, I hope he is at full strength. That’s the way kids should look at each other, respect each other.

We have our hands full with Houston, whoever plays.

Q. After the game last night we were talking to Dylan, and he was talking about this team is in the exact same spot as last year’s team. Last year’s team had Jabari, had Walker. They got bounced. He said they probably had big eyes. They were looking forward to things, but he said this year’s team we’ve learned lessons from that last year, and they’re ready to apply it this year. How much carry-over from the guys that are still on this team from last year do you still feel like have an impact on what’s going to happen tomorrow?

BRUCE PEARL: I mean, I’ve heard that, but at the time I didn’t sense it. Maybe there could be something to it. We didn’t take anybody lightly. We played Miami. Miami beat us. Miami then went on to the Sweet 16 and got all the way to the Elite Eight and was up in double digits against Kansas who won the national championship.

So if our guys think that the only reason Miami beat us was because we looked past them, I’m going to address that because we didn’t look past them. We got beat.

But if they feel like that was the case and they’re not looking past Houston, great.

Q. Your institution touts the turnaround that has happened under your watch. Houston has had a great turnaround under Kelvin Sampson. From afar, what do you admire about Kelvin, and is there a trait that he has that you wish you had?

BRUCE PEARL: Well, Kelvin and I, if I cut my hair a little shorter, a little darker, and I get my suntan going, he and I resemble each other quite a bit, and we’ve always said that, you know, if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, just tell them you’re Bruce Pearl. No one will know the difference.

I admire Kelvin greatly. He and I both have our sons as our right-hand men, and it’s so great that we are able as families and fathers and sons to be able to work together and do what we do. So we share that.

You know, I admire how hard and physically and tough, physically and mentally, Kelvin Sampson’s teams always play. They never beat themselves. They’ll turn it over, but it’s forced. They never give it away. You know, and they play with a confidence and a swagger and a toughness that they’re well-known for. I obviously admire that very, very much.

Q. Bruce, you said all year that your team’s greatest strength is going to be its depth, and March is usually a time of year where people tighten they are rotations. Last night you all got a ton from your bench. How much left do you all have to play basketball this year? How much is that going to be a weapon for you moving forward?

BRUCE PEARL: We’re going to find out tomorrow night, but I’ve always believed in not shortening your bench come tournament time, and I know that’s not certainly how the way it is in the NBA, because I want my guys fresh and furious at the end to be able to win the game.

So I think it was very encouraging to see, you know, Tre Donaldson play without any fear. He is going to have a hard time keeping — we’re all going to have a hard time keeping Houston’s guards in front of us, and we’re all going to have hard time dealing with Houston’s pressure. They get up into you, and they make everything you do very, very difficult, but it was great to see Tre respond.

Obviously, K.D. Johnson’s energy and scoring ability off the bench, what a punch that is for us. Lior Berman will guard physically, and he is going to make a shot. Even though yesterday was a birthday, and he didn’t make a shot. He is going to make a shot. You have to guard him out there.

Then Chris Moore probably isn’t going to get talked about enough at all hardly. We had Jaylin Williams with two fouls early, and then Chris Moore kind of dings up his shoulder again, and he is out for the rest of the game. Now all of a sudden I’m playing Yohan Traore, who hasn’t played much, really not sure the position. Hadn’t gotten a lot of reps at it. Allen Flanigan moves to the 4. Hadn’t played a minute there all year long. And we managed to sort of piece it together, but because of our depth, because of the play of the bench. Dylan Cardwell had a good series out there as well.

Those five guys coming off the bench helped us a lot. We’ll see if those guys can now that we’re stepping up again in class. I mean, Iowa is a very good team. Houston might be the best team in the country.

Q. Bruce, with Houston’s physicality, how do you prepare for that? What’s key for that, especially with the way they attack the boards?

BRUCE PEARL: You know, you watch the guys, watch tape, you know, watch them just run to the glass and run through people. And knowing that we’re going to have to put bodies on bodies, and some of our guys may not be able to get a rebound, but they have to make sure that their matchup doesn’t get a rebound. So it will be our biggest challenge tomorrow will be keeping Houston off the glass.

Q. Coach Pearl, are there any things that you are trying to take from your matchups with similar big teams, like when you played Kentucky and Arkansas earlier in the year, to apply to what you’re going to be having with Houston?

BRUCE PEARL: Well, we struggled to keep both those teams off the boards. It’s a great question, but we got physically dominated by Arkansas the second time, and Kentucky up in Rupp Arena.

Q. Everyone talks about Houston’s physicality and their grittiness. I know you coached a while, and you’re a student of the game. What’s the most physical basketball team you’ve ever coached against?

BRUCE PEARL: Hmm, man, I don’t know that there’s a most. You know, I don’t know that I can even tell you one of the most physical teams. I’m sorry. There’s a lot of them. A lot of good ones.

Q. I hear you have a special day tomorrow, and how would you like to celebrate that special day? Then, also, what do you think it’s going to be like tomorrow with Bama fans and Auburn fans in the building at the same time, you know, as both teams are trying to advance to the Sweet 16?

BRUCE PEARL: Well, you know what, my hope is that our fans root for Alabama in the SEC and that Alabama’s fans root for Auburn in the SEC. I would hope that’s the case.

I think some will. I think some won’t. If I was coaching the Houston Cougars, I would do everything I could to bring up to Alabama’s fans just how much they’re supposed to hate Auburn, right? You know, talk about anything you can possibly talk about. Talk about the Iron Bowl. Talk about Cam Newton and Cam beating them in Tuscaloosa. Talk about Charles Barkley. Talk about anything you can talk about just to right that Alabama fan base up to root against Auburn.

But I honestly think that we are a state that has pride in our state. How can you not respect Alabama and their university and their athletic program? I’m now coach at Auburn. I don’t like them, but I respect them. That goes a long way, I think.

Q. (Off microphone).

BRUCE PEARL: No, nothing special about him (smiling).

Q. So from the game yesterday it seemed like Houston struggled to keep Northern Kentucky off the offensive rebounds, off the offensive glass. Do you feel like that’s something you can attack tomorrow?

BRUCE PEARL: I don’t think — Northern Kentucky played so well, so hard, so aggressively. Yeah, I am sure that Kelvin will be cleaning that up in a big, big way. My guess is probably with a lot of long shots and long rebounds because NKU shot a lot of three balls. The inside shots, inside rebounds, Houston is going to get all those. Long shots, long rebounds, now it’s more about chasing 50/50 balls and guards. I think they’ll get that cleaned up.

Q. Bruce, you talked about it a little bit last night, but the fact that you guys competed so well with Alabama and Tennessee and some of these other teams this year, you talked a lot about the confidence keeping your guys confident. How much confidence do they have going into a game against Houston where they know they’ve competed with some of the best in the country this year?

BRUCE PEARL: Well, we should be confident and feel good about ourselves because let’s just take three out of the last four games. At Alabama, home against Tennessee, and then last night against Iowa. We played three really good basketball games. The game at Arkansas in the SEC Tournament, they played really well. We didn’t play great. We played really well three of the last four times we played.

Can we continue to play that well? I just think the biggest thing is Houston’s physicality, their ability to go get the ball, their length and their athleticism. That will remind my Auburn team of the most athletic, physical, tough teams in the SEC that we’ve had our hands full with.

Q. The elephant in the room, happy early birthday for tomorrow, but I do want to ask you just about the fact that people always say there’s a lot of pressure on the team that’s seeded higher. Obviously, a season ago I know you’ve been asked about this. That was a different case for you than this season, but do you think that that really loosens the pressure when you are the lower seed, and do you feel like your team is playing — it looked like it yesterday — just a little bit more fun and getting to experience this tournament in a different mindset?

BRUCE PEARL: I think you see that in tournament play. I do. The top seeds are better. They’ve had better years. They’re more talented. They’re deeper. They won championships.

The seeds that are, like, in had a situation that we’re in, there may be a little less pressure on us, more of an opportunity. The prize of being a No. 1 seed is great. It would be historic for us. The prize for Houston beating Auburn would be to advance to the Sweet 16. That’s a great prize, but I don’t think that all year long Houston was dreaming of playing Auburn. You know? I think all year long teams like Houston or Kansas or Alabama or the No. 1 seeds in our tournament are the teams that I think every college player would like to try to have an opportunity to play, but you’ve got to be careful what you wish for.

Q. Bruce, what does it say about Wendell Green that he can remain in games when the shot isn’t falling and still find ways to contribute?

BRUCE PEARL: Well, he is a competitor. He is not afraid of the moment. He is obviously going 8-for-8 from the foul line and setting a new record for Auburn with consecutive free-throws, and many of those free-throws are coming down the stretch of important games, says everything you need to know about what a great competitor he is.

Q. Win or lose tomorrow, what makes this team so special and just the season as a whole? What can you say about your team’s season?

BRUCE PEARL: Well, how special this team is still to be determined. But what I’ll tell you is I think the team has been fairly resilient. I believe, again, I’m repeating myself, but I think only Kansas and Baylor and maybe Iowa State had more appearances against the field. What does that mean? That means on 17 occasions we played against teams that were in this field, which means it was all we wanted, and we lost some of those games. More than half, and that will knock the wind out of you a little bit. That could discourage you a little bit.

But our team has continued to get up off the mat and have — we had some tough road, last-second, last-possession losses that we should have/could have and didn’t get. Yet, this team kept on bouncing back, so I would say they’ve been pretty resilient.

Q. Marcus Sasser’s status is still up in the air, but with his backcourt mate Jamal Shead, what do you see when you watch him on film?

BRUCE PEARL: He is the best defensive guard in college basketball. He affects the game. He is not afraid of the moment. Big shots, big playmaker.

You know, he is I think in many ways their heart and their soul and just does a great job getting downhill, does a great job facilitating. Will just take the ball from you, whether you want him to or not. He is going to take your rock.

Obviously, Houston is older and more experienced, and he appears to be, obviously, an important leader for them.

Q. I know you talked about you coach your point guards hard and you coach your freshmen hard. Tre kind of has the best of both worlds there. What have you seen out of his maturity this season and his development, I guess?

BRUCE PEARL: Yeah, I’m probably harder on Tre almost than anybody else on our team. Now, you wouldn’t imagine. Why would you be hard on a freshman point guard? It’s because he is really talented, and he can handle it.

His mom and dad were both athletes and great competitors, and he has been coached hard at home. So I’ve got the blessing of the family to set the bar high and set a standard high.

But even I couldn’t be the confidence out of him, which is I think is great.

You know, point guards have got to be exact and precise with their eyes, with their shoulders, with their feet, and with their leadership. So I hold both Wendell and Tre to account on that.

Q. Seth got a little bit of heat for what I think was a very mature response on saying, you know, he loves the SEC, and I have to ask you. I just asked him again. I’m, like, I love that mentality from a player that he kind of leans more into just being wide open and loving for both programs, Auburn, Alabama. What are your thoughts on that? What can you say to his maturity, and do you want to back him up?

BRUCE PEARL: I already have, but I’ll do it again. I think it’s great. I think it says something about the young man. I think it actually says something about being an Auburn man that, look, we don’t like Alabama, but we respect them. When I say we don’t like them, you know what I mean. They’re our rival.

I’ve said it many times. They know it’s one of the best coaches in the country. They run their program the right way.

You know, I’m not going to go so far as to say I’m rooting for them, but I respect them, and they’re in the SEC, and I would like to see them do really well. I would like to see them beat Maryland tomorrow, and I would like to see Auburn beat Houston if we can and have Birmingham, Alabama, be able to be a place where both these teams came from.

You guys in Houston know what football country is all about. You understand what that’s all about. You know how hard it’s been for the basketball programs in the state to even come close to competing with so many other sports, and now we’re on the biggest stage at the same time in the same location. Auburn or Alabama have won either the regular season or the SEC Tournament championship, like, five out of the last six years. I’m proud of that. I’m proud of it. We’ve won it three times. They’ve won it a couple of times.

Q. You’re proud of Alabama. You are an elite recruiter, okay? All right, give me the elevator pitch on why an Alabama football fan or Alabama basketball fan should cheer for Auburn tomorrow.

BRUCE PEARL: Because they respect us. They respect our program. They respect how our kids play. You know, when you are a gladiator and you are competing in the arena and you’ve got a worthy opponent, you want to kill them before they kill you, but you still — you better have respect for that opponent, and I think I just think we do. So that’s about as far as I can take it (smiling).

Q. Just how have you seen Chance Westry handle the adversity of what he has gone through this season?

BRUCE PEARL: Chance is going to be really good. This summer he was one of our best guards, if not even maybe close to being our best guard, and then he got hurt. We tried to get him back from that injury, but he wasn’t the same, and he wasn’t quite ready. Probably I brought him back at point. I should have brought him back off the ball just to see.

So, Saturday, there was a certain number of games in trying to get him back, and so he obviously can’t play right now, but he has handled it really well. He has been in the weight room. He has gotten bigger, and he has gotten stronger. You know, he’s ready to go for next year.

He is a big guard that can get downhill, that can score at the basket. He is long. He can defend. He can score at all three levels. He is going to be a good player.

Q. How important is it for Allen Flanigan to have a real good game tomorrow night?

BRUCE PEARL: I think because Allen is one of our best athletes, it’s important that our best athletes are able to match up and be able to play well because, I mean, Houston is almost always bigger, stronger, and more athletic at every position than almost every opponent they played this year.

Q. Obviously you guys recruited Jarace Walker out of high school. What did you see out of him as a prospect, and what do you see in his first year?

BRUCE PEARL: I saw the same things Kelvin saw, except he did a better job of recruiting him, so I don’t know what kind of an elite recruiter I am. I finished second on a bunch of the guys in this tournament. I finished second more than I finished first, so I don’t think that makes me that good of a recruiter.

Jarace is a nightmare matchup. You know, he is powerful, quick, skilled, great IQ, great motor. You know, 6’8″ in frame, but arms that make him 6’11”. Got great upside. Worker. Good teammate. Great kid. Unbelievable family. Great family.

So we worked really hard. I think it came down to us and Houston. And he probably choose Kelvin over me.

Q. A couple of the guys in the locker room were talking about how much a win tomorrow would mean considering most, if not all of them, have never been past the round of 32. Can you speak about that personally?

BRUCE PEARL: Well, I mean, it’s an opportunity to play maybe the best team in the country. You know, certainly a No. 1 seed. We’re going to be on our game on both ends of the floor, but it’s an opportunity for us to make history. It’s going to take something real special.