Bruce Pearl is Preparing for Kentucky to get a "Home Whistle" at Rupp Arena

Bruce Pearl is making excuses more than 24 hours before his top-ranked team gets upset by the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena.

Before leaving the loveliest village on the plains, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl previewed the game at Kentucky. The Tigers have great stats in almost every category. There’s one really, really bad stat he’s also well aware of. Auburn has not won at Kentucky since 1988.

“It’s because they’ve always been great and we’ve usually been not great. That’s why it’s 2-31 (all-time). But I brought some really good Auburn and Tennessee teams up to Rupp and not won,” Pearl said.

“Their fans know the game. I’ve never gone to Kentucky where they didn’t get a good whistle, you know, but they’ve earned it.”

The room looked around a bit perplexed by the statement. He’s really blaming losses at Rupp on the home cooking? Pearl doubled down.

“I’m sorry, but I feel that way. I do. I feel that way. You put 19,000 people in every single night. You got a nationally ranked team, they’re going to get a good whistle at home. They’ve earned it, you know, which means you have to go in there and play great.”

That’s rich, coming from Pearl. I’m sure the Tigers have never had a call go their way at the Cracker Jack Box Neville Arena. Kentucky fans would argue the opposite and say the Cats rarely get a favorable, regardless of the setting.

It would be a real shame if Pearl manifested a home whistle for the Wildcats. As he pointed out, Auburn is still looking for its first SEC loss on the road.

“Now we have not lost on the road in the SEC yet. It’s almost March, you know, and everybody makes such a big deal about the fact that it’s been said that we can’t win away from Neville. They always talk about, and I’m so proud of our home court advantage at Neville, but so often they equate like our success, well, that’s because we win all of our games at Neville. We can’t win on the road. That’s just not true. And it’s certainly not true this year, but it hasn’t been true for the last several years.”

It might just be the case Saturday at Rupp Arena against Kentucky.

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