Wendell Green's struggles disappear with strong bounce-back game vs. Georgia

On3 imageby:On3 Staff Report02/02/23

In the heart of conference play in college basketball you often only get as far as your stars take you. And to that end, Wendell Green‘s struggles in a loss against West Virginia could easily be pointed to as one of the key factors.

Green finished the game with just nine points on 2-of-10 shooting for Auburn. He missed a 3-point attempt at the end of regulation that would have forced overtime.

In short, it was anything but a typical performance for Green.

Naturally, he bounced back in a big way in a 94-73 win over Georgia on Wednesday evening. Green poured in 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting, and he also added six assists, two rebounds and two steals in the contest.

He was back to star form.

“Wendell’s a fierce competitor and nobody’s harder on Wendell than Wendell,” coach Bruce Pearl said. “Nobody. He is really hard on himself. All he cares about is winning. So the fact that he didn’t play great against West Virginia and felt like if he’d have played better we’d have won, he owns it. That’s what great players do, that’s what great competitors do.”

Auburn certainly appreciated the lift with Wendell Green’s struggles behind him, as it helped the Tigers snap a two-game losing skid.

Bruce Pearl wants Auburn to finish strong

As we come into February, teams are starting to hunker down to close their campaigns on a high note. That includes down on The Plains as Pearl prepares Auburn for a battle down the stretch.

Pearl talked about the importance of finishing strong during his postgame press conference after the Tiger’s 94-73 win over Georgia. He said it’s of the utmost importance for Auburn to beat the teams they’re favored against. Then, from there, they have to find a way to steal some of the ones they’ll be underdogs in.

We’ve got to beat the teams that we can and pick off some ones,” Pearl said. “We’ve got nine games left and we’re probably going to be a dog in six of them. So we’ve got to win the ones we’re supposed to win, can win. And we gotta see if we can pick up a couple that are going to be really, really hard to get starting Saturday.”

Auburn will return to action Saturday at No. 2 Tennessee in a game that tips off at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN.