Everything Bruce Pearl said after No. 22 Auburn's dominant win against No. 13 Arkansas

AUBURN — After starting out SEC play 1-1, tonight’s game was important in multiple different ways.

Not only did Auburn defeat a Top-15 ranked team in Arkansas, the Tigers led the entire game and ultimately defeated Arkansas, 72-59.

This win extends Auburn’s current home game win streak to 27, the third longest active in the country. The Tigers will play four of their next six games on the road, starting with Ole Miss up next on Jan. 10 in Oxford, Miss.

Head Coach Bruce Pearl spoke on tonight’s dominant performance. Here are the high points on what he had to say.

Opening Statements

“Well, you guys have seen us play all season, all fall. We needed that, I think everybody would agree. We needed that. Could you have expected it? I don’t know, but they really showed me something tonight. The bounce back, the quick turnaround, played great from the start.”

“We got Wendell some really good looks against the Arkansas defense. He got us off to a great start. It was wonderful to see Allen Flanigan have maybe one of the best games in his career and in an important game here at home, beating Arkansas, 13th ranked- probably one of the top four or five wins that I’ve had at Auburn at home in Neville Arena. So, it was a big one, it was an important win. And it was start to finish.”

Bruce Pearl continued with some praise for his players:

“I’m very proud of the kids and it was just a great team effort. Johni Broome gets another double-double. We could continue to play through him. The key to the game was not turning it over. The key to the game was really understanding that- let’s get a shot before we turn it over.”

Auburn defensive changes

“Arkansas is better from two than three. That little flat two-three zone bothered them. They really struggled with it. They’re going to see it all year long. Our guys did a good job with it. And we have it, we have it in the package. I think it actually also helped our man defense, because in the zone, you’ve got a gap and you’ve got to build a wall. When guys are in the zone, they get that feeling, when you’re trying to play a team that’s better from two… like Arkansas, you’ve got to play your man like that also. So, it was very effective.”

Points off turnovers

“We just ran offensive things that didn’t require a ton of passing. When you pass the ball too much against Arkansas, they jump in passing lanes. The other thing that we emphasized was just to take open shots. We didn’t have very many forced dribble penetrations that create strips and rips and then transition. I thought that was very, very important.”

Allen Flanigan’s game tonight

“We talk about trying to do the things that God might bless, whether you get the blessing or not. Really, truly, since the first of the year, Al has just been trying to do the right things. He’s just been trying to do the little things, try to keep the attitude right. Al’s coming off the bench and he’s certainly good enough to start, the way he played tonight and he played well against Georgia, but- I agree with you- I thought he was mentally locked in and didn’t over penetrate. (He) used his physicality defensively in rebounding and I’m so happy for him. That’s the player that he’s capable of being…”

Wendell Green Jr. bouncing back

“Wendell is tough- he’s undersized, he’s stubborn and he’s confident. He takes a hit now. He takes a lot of contact… I think what happens is, Wendell gets in there and they think like, ‘What’re you doing in there little guy?’ and they just let all the big guys kind of bounce him around and they foul him. A lot of times, they don’t call it.”

“Obviously, Anthony Black is a great player. The league knows Anthony Black just like they knew Jabari Smith, but I’ve got good players, too.”

Bruce Pearl’s keys to keeping the lead

“I just thought that, we didn’t speed them up. Normally we speed them up, we didn’t. We didn’t expand our man-to-man and try to turnover, we didn’t. We just build a wall and play differently than what we’d been playing, because that was the way to beat them. They never were able to effectively attack. We held them to 59 points and whatever the shooting percentages are, so whatever we were doing defensively didn’t allow them to come back. And, we didn’t turn the ball over and create an easy offense for them. I know it’s simple, but honestly that’s it.”