What Bruce Pearl said as No. 25 Auburn prepares for No. 2 Tennessee on the road
AUBURN — Auburn’s next three games are against three of the top four teams in the SEC standings right now. The fourth team in that top grouping? Auburn.
The brutal three-game stretch starts this Saturday in Knoxville as KenPom’s No. 1-ranked defensive team in college basketball.
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“To be tied for second place after the first nine is an accomplishment,” Pearl said. “We all recognize the back nine is three times as hard as the front nine, but to work as hard as we worked — it’s worth noting.”
Auburn (17-5, 7-2) hopes to avenge last year’s five-point loss at Tennessee.
The Tigers are coming off their most efficient offensive game of the season, scoring 94 points and only turning the ball over five times in a 21-point blowout of rival Georgia. Tennessee is fresh off a double-digit road loss at Florida.
Bruce Pearl spoke with the media on Thursday as Auburn prepares for Tennessee on the road on Saturday.
— Second top-25 matchup of the season after beating Arkansas earlier in the season.
— Tennessee is the “best defensive team in the country.”
— Saturday’s game will be “by far” the tallest task Auburn has faced.
— Says Tennessee’s guards, Zakai Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi, are the best ball screen defenders they’ll play all season and “they’re on the same team.”
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— Praises K.D. Johnson, Allen Flanigan and Wendell Green Jr. for their overall low turnover numbers in conference play, saying they are really trying hard to focus on taking care of the basketball and helping lead Auburn to 94 points against Georgia.
— Bruce Pearl said he wasn’t aware Johni Broome was so close to producing a 20-point and 20-rebound game against Georgia, otherwise he would have put him in for one more rotation around the four-minute mark to end the game.
— On Tre Donaldson: “Tre is a tough, hard-nosed competitor. He’s got a natural feel as far as playmaking is concerned. It’s great when we can go to the bench and not drop off.”
— On Florida’s upset of Tennessee: “Florida made some big shots. Tennessee is a great three-point shooting team and they just didn’t shoot the percentage they normally do. That was a great win for Florida.”
