Everything Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said this week about Rick Barnes, No. 6 Tennessee

Everything Bruce Pearl said during his press conference on Thursday about Rick Barnes and No. 6 Tennessee, who No. 1 Auburn will host in Saturday night’s game (8:30 Eastern Time, ESPN) at Auburn’s Neville Arena:

Opening Statement

“These two teams, Tennessee and Auburn, have been the best two teams in the SEC, at least by winning percentage over the last eight years. I’m proud to be a part of that, and even in some smaller, lesser way, also proud that I was at both Tennessee and helped get that thing going a little bit, and now here at Auburn.

“Have such great respect for Coach (Rick) Barnes and his coaching staff. He’s done an amazing job with that Tennessee team. They play as good a defense as anybody in the country. Their field-goal percentage defense, their 3-point defense, they’re one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country, and they really shoot it really well from three. They’ve got three or four guys that can really, really knock it down, and it’s a tough cover. Only four teams have scored 70 points or more against them all season long. Like us, they play an incredible schedule and so we’re gonna have to be, you know, at our best.

“Excited about College GameDay being here. We’re the only school in the country that can say — at least at this point — that College GameDay has been on our campus five years in a row in college basketball. Now, if they go back to Duke later on this year. If they go back to Kansas later on this year, they can say the same thing. Still, to be in that company, it speaks to the incredible home-court advantage we have at Neville Arena, the best home-court advantage in college basketball thanks to the Auburn family. We’re excited about having college basketball, ESPN and the College Gameday crew here in Auburn.”

Thursday’s update on Johni Broome (ankle)

“Well, right now, we’ll practice this afternoon and there’s a possibility he’ll try and practice, but we’re not sure. Obviously, I’ll know more tomorrow and Saturday. I don’t know whether he’s questionable or possible, but I do know he’s going to try and move around a little bit today and we’ll just have to see how he does.”

What it is like coaching against Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, the two knowing each other so well

“Well, it doesn’t actually make it much fun at all because they know us so well and it’s hard to run what you do. Like Coach Barnes, we are who we are, and what we’ve been doing, we’ve been doing it this way for a long, long time. Nobody does it better than Rick Barnes and Tennessee.

“I want to beat Tennessee because they’re one of the best teams in our league, and a team that we need to beat to be able to have a chance to be a champion, but not for any other reason. It’s no fun going up against a friend.”

The challenge presented by Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler

“He’s one of the leading assist guys in the country and he’s a brilliant passer. He’s already set the all-time record for Tennessee in steals, and he’s been the face of that program for a long, long time. In many ways, they go as he goes and he always goes pretty well. He’s a great three-point shooter with a great percentage and he’s hard to stay in front of. So obviously, so much of what you have to do, you got to gameplan for Zakai Ziegler. He will go down as one of the all-time greats in the history of Tennessee basketball.”

What he has seen from Tennessee’s defense this season, possibly facing the Vols without Johni Broome

“Well, it’ll make it harder to score because you can throw the ball in to Johni and you can get buckets, and you can play inside-out basketball if they double. Obviously, you don’t have that. You got to find other ways to score. They have a system of defense where they’re able to guard everything. They do it with great ball pressure, they do it by extending catches, they do it with athleticism, they don’t take possessions off. Everything we do will be extremely well scouted and fits within the framework of what they guard. And so it’ll come down to being able to execute and make some tough shots. You’re just not going to get anything easy against Tennessee. They’re very physical offensively, very physical defensively, and you’ve got to be able to handle that physicality on both ends of the floor.”

If he has spoken with Rick Barnes this week

“Well Coach Barnes and I will visit more in the offseason. Coaches — at least I don’t — have much interaction with coaches during the season. Every now and then you’ll text somebody after a great win or some kind of historic achievement, but we’ll save the interaction for the offseason.”

Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier

“He’ll be one of the most impactful transfers in college basketball. Dalton Knecht was last year. Miles Kelly certainly is for us this year. He’s got great size like Dalton, incredibly quick release and he’s made big shots. He’s made contested shots, he can shoot it from three, he’s got a mid-range game. If you’re going to play for Coach Barnes, he’s improved his defense. He is a definite guy that can win games for them. They need him to shoot the ball well and shoot a good percentage. They haven’t lost very often. They’ve only lost a couple of times, and one of the times at Vanderbilt, he still scored pretty well. And then one time at Florida, he didn’t shoot it very well. He’s someone that Coach Barnes trusts and they’ve been able to count on.”

The importance of rebounding in Auburn’s matchup with Tennessee

“Well, Florida is one of the best rebounding teams in college basketball. So, you know, you go into that game and that’s a must. And Vanderbilt, they’re really able to guard and they make some shots. I don’t think you need to necessarily beat Tennessee on the boards, you just can’t let them beat you on the boards.”