What Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said on Tuesday about facing No. 4 Tennessee

Everything Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl told reporters Tuesday afternoon, before his 11th-ranked Tigers (21-6, 10-4 SEC) go to No. 4 Tennessee (21-6, 11-3) for Wednesday’s game (7 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN2) at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville:

Opening Statement

“It’s almost March, and we’re still playing for championships. There just aren’t many teams in the country that can say that, particularly in a league this good. There are six teams right now in our league that are within a game or two of first place. So, every game now, home or on the road, are precious. Tennessee, I’ve been saying all along, I think they’re the best team in the league. And I haven’t played them yet, so we’re fixing to find out. They’re experienced. So well coached. They’ve got great guard play. They’re dangerous from three. They’ve got guys that can really protect the rim. They’re one of the best defensive teams in the country. We went up there last year and it was a 46-43 rock fight. Our defense has been good. It’ll have to at its very best. It’d be great if we could keep making shots. That’s what it takes at the end of the year to get hot and win.”

Facing Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht

“He’s going to get his. You just don’t want him to go off. Understanding their personnel and their strengths and their weaknesses – people have got him as high as top five in the draft board for next year. What a great story he is. He can do it all, both ends of the floor. Presents a real matchup problem because he’s one of the biggest guards our guards will face and he’s one of the most skilled forwards our forwards will face. But I do think one of the keys to playing Tennessee, they’ve got so many weapons. Anybody and everybody they play. They’ve got so many dimensions. They’ve got three great defensive guards. Three or four. Great defensive guards. Some of the guards coming off the bench are great defensive guards. They’ve got five or six great 3-point shooters, so it’s not just taking away (Zakai) Zeigler or (Santiago) Vescovi or Josiah James. There are about six guys you’ve got to worry about. They’re good in transition, they play fast. Our guys will have to know all their personnel and be able to guard accordingly.”

Updating the status of Jaylin Williams (knee)

“Jaylin will travel. While he was not available for Georgia, it’s possible he could play tomorrow. We’ll see how he does today. He moved around a lot yesterday. More than we thought he would. That may just be a game-time decision.”

The play of Aden Holloway at Georgia

“I thought Aden did great. And I thought that he showed how tough he is. Every shot he took against Georgia, I thought he was going to make. But every shot he took against Kentucky, I thought he was going to make, too, and games before. And to his credit, he hasn’t shied away from the moment. And he shouldn’t shy away from the moment.He’s a great player, one of our hardest workers, and he’s one of the youngest players in college basketball at the Power 5 level that is able to have the kind of impact that he is able to have on our team.

“He’s worked really hard to improve in the areas of his defense, his rebounding and the physicality of the game. And that’s where he’s going to be challenged at Tennessee as much as anything. These older, more experienced guards are going to be all up in him and they’ll impact his ball screen. I guarantee you Tennessee will be paying close attention to the Georgia film, and make his looks difficult. But I’m really, really proud of him for staying, fighting through it. And of course, he knows his coaches and his teammates never stop believing in him.

Chad Baker-Mazara starting at Georgia and scoring 25 points in the win

“Chad Baker’s clearly one of our top-three players, and he was the best player on the floor against Georgia. But he’s been that before, at Arkansas, because he’s able to do so much. He can shoot it, he can make tough twos, he can put them in ball screens, he can play make for himself, he can play make for others. He’s a smart defender. He plays hard. He’s a great locker room glue guy. While he’s incredibly passionate, he’s focused on winning only. I think Chad Baker, if you were to write a list nationally of the best players in college basketball that you’d never heard of before: The Knecht kid, he’s at the top of everybody’s list, but Chad Baker-Mazara’s on the list. So yes, I felt like we needed to change some things up, not just insert Chaney Johnson into the starting lineup because we’re without Jaylin Williams. But I felt there were some other things that we needed to do with our roster to just see if we could get to be playing a little better.

Auburn’s 3-point defense

“Well, part of the success against Georgia was we shot such an incredible field-goal percentage — 62 percent on the road — that Georgia didn’t get their traditional transition. Tennessee is a great transition team. They get offense from their defense — blocked shots, steals, turnovers. And then they come down and shoot open threes because they spread it, drive it and dish it. Transition is No. 1. And we didn’t give a lot of transition to Georgia because we played so well offensively. Whereas Tennessee is one of the best defensive teams in the country. They’re going to get that. And then, I’ve always been a guy who knew the 3-point shot was worth one more point than the 2-point shot. Not everybody’s got that figured out. I figured that out a long time ago. We’re going to do everything we can to try to take — the best plays in the game are inside threes and outside threes, offensively. 

Tennessee-Auburn games in recent seasons

“These games have mattered. As you guys know, history matters to me, and trying to make history, trying to win a conference championship. I think we need to win at Tennessee to win it, to be in a position to win it. Lose and you’re two games back. The league is tough, but you’re still two games back with three to go, and you obviously need help. We’ve been in control of our own destiny all season long, and the only way we remain in control is if we can pull off the upset. Coach (Rick) Barnes is a Hall of Fame coach. He continues to be as good as he always was, or maybe better. Rick Barnes was one of the best young coaches in college basketball 30 years ago. He was. Now he’s just one of the best coaches in college basketball, period.”

Looking forward to March and the postseason

“Yeah, look, it’s close to March. So what you do is you start telling March stories. Before the Georgia game we told the greatest March story Auburn basketball’s ever had was our 2019 Final Four run. What happened to that team? We always played hard, we always played really good defense — not quite as good as this team’s played, but pretty good. But we started to get hot from 3. We won four of our last regular-season games, four games in the SEC tournament, then we won four games in the NCAA tournament. So to go win 12 games, and if you look at the 3-point shooting, it was a big factor. That’s what has to happen.”