Bruce Pearl shares benefits of getting close win against Mississippi State in SEC Tournament

With The Auburn Tigers‘ win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs, head coach Bruce Pearl saw his team advance to the SEC Tournament Championship. However, it wasn’t an easy win to get there, with Auburn needing to get a close win to advance.

Interestingly enough, this was the first time all season long that Auburn won a game by less than double-digits. That’s something that Pearl shared will be a huge benefit for the team moving forward.

“It was really good,” Bruce Pearl said. “I got to tell you, I thought Chad Prewett, Corey Williams did a really good job with the scout, the preparation. It is a limited play call list ’cause most of what we do won’t work because of the way they guard. I mean, 73 points was hard (smiling).”

Auburn finished the season in a four-way tie for second in the SEC and has a 26-7 record overall. However, the closest of their wins during the year was by 11 points. That is, until the Tigers played the Bulldogs during the SEC Tournament semifinals, where Auburn won by a final score of 73-66.

“It was good to be in a close game. I thought down the stretch obviously we didn’t turn the ball over late, and we made our free throws. Got the ball to Jaylin Williams, Chad Baker-Mazara, and they did a great job closing it out.”

Next up, Bruce Pearl and Auburn are going to take on the Florida Gators in the SEC Tournament Championship Game. Between that game and the upcoming NCAA Tournament, Auburn is likely going to find itself in close games again that the Tigers need to know how to win if they want to make a deep run into the Tournament.

Bruce Pearl, Johni Broome describe Auburn’s second-half mentality

Going into halftime against Mississippi State, Auburn was tied with the Bulldogs at 31 points each. The Tigers were able to come out strong, though, and ended up earning a big win thanks to the second-half mentality that Johni Broome broke down after the game.

“We had to be the more physical team in the second half,” Broome said. “First half, they kind of got a lot of offensive rebounds. We didn’t play a good half in the first half. So we went in at halftime, and you know, Coach told us, it was a tie ball game, 20 minutes before the championship, I think we’d take that position. They just said, ‘Drop your nuts.’ You know, big boy basketball. Go out there and be the first person to hit first, and go out there and get some rebounds.”

Bruce Pearl also added how he was feeling during the second half of the game.

“I don’t want to let these guys go. The truth of the matter is I don’t want any coaches down. I don’t want to let the players down,” Pearl said. “So I will work as hard as I can. Try to stay healthy if I can, but just prepare. And I gotta be the hardest working guy in the building. Right? My players need to know that. And I gotta love him in the good times and the bad times.”