Bruce Pearl: Auburn playing at Tennessee is 'by far the tallest task we have faced'
Bruce Pearl knows exactly what his 25th-ranked Auburn basketball team is facing on Saturday, when the Tigers take on No. 2 Tennessee inside a sold-out Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.
“This will be by far the tallest task, we have faced,” Pearl said on Thursday.
Auburn (17-5, 7-2 SEC) and Tennessee (18-4, 7-2) are scheduled for a 2 p.m. Eastern Time start Saturday on ESPN.
Pearl’s team is coming off a 94-73 home win over Georgia on Wednesday, after dropping back-to-back games at West Virginia, in the Big 12-SEC Challenge on Saturday, and at home against Texas A&M on January 25.
Auburn is 9-5 over last 14 games, after starting season 8-0
Auburn opened SEC play with a home win over Florida, then lost at Georgia on January 4. The Tigers bounced back with five straight league wins before the Aggies snapped their 28-game home winning streak.
Tennessee, meanwhile, is coming off a 67-54 loss at Florida on Wednesday at Exactech Arena in Gainesville, where the Gators held the Vols to 27.9 percent shooting from the field and just 20.0 percent from the 3-point line.
“Florida obviously made some big shots,” Pearl said. “Tennessee is a great 3-point shooting team. They just didn’t shoot the percentage that they normally do. That was a great, great win for Florida.”
The Vols moved up to No. 2 in the rankings on Monday, after the 82-71 win over No. 10 Texas on Saturday. It was a fourth straight win after the 63-56 loss at home to Kentucky on January 14.
Pearl pointed to Tennessee’s defense, describing the Vols as they best in the country on that end of the floor. KenPom.com has had Tennessee at No. 1 adjusted defensive efficiency for over two months.
“They are very, very deep,” Pearl said. “They are very, very talented. They are well coached. They are very physical. They are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country.
Up Next: No. 2 Tennessee vs. Auburn, Saturday, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN
“They have got great size on the inside. Their three, four and five are all enormous and so that length and physicality. In watching Tennessee’s games, there’s just lots of contact. More so than in most game.
“They typically let you play,” Pearl added, “they let them play. Very, very physical. Which, if they’re going to help you play, can really help your defense.”
Pearl said Tennessee’s defense has a lot of “the very same principles” that Auburn uses on defense, but the Vols are “obviously better at it than we are.” He added that it starts in the backcourt with Zakai Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi.
“Zeigler and Vescovi, at the one and the two, are incredibly quick and just gifted getting through ball screen coverages,” Pearl said. “They will be the two best ball screen defenders we play all year and they are on the same team. They are just fast and quick, and able to get through things and take a lot of your ball screen offense away from you.”
