Everything Bruce Pearl said after No. 16 Auburn's 15-point win over LSU
AUBURN — It was both dominant and disappointing at times, but No. 16 Auburn beat LSU on Saturday evening to remain unbeaten in SEC play. In the end, it was a good night.
Auburn pushed their lead to 28 points midway through the second half, that was the dominant part. But, a furious 21-2 LSU rally made things interesting inside Neville Arena late, and that was the disappointing part. Bruce Pearl‘s squad was +5 on the scoreboard over the final four minutes or so, finally winning by 15.
“I thought we played well in the first half. We had the advantage of watching LSU win their first two games over Vanderbilt and Texas A&M, and coming in prior to the game, we heard the final of the Texas A&M and Kentucky game. The LSU win at Texas A&M speaks volumes about what kind of job Matt (McMahon) has done and how good LSU is and the league is,” Pearl said.
“I thought we played good basketball in the first half, shot it well, turned them over. Then in the second half, on a lead, we didn’t play as well. We only turned them over three or four times in the second half, sent them to the foul line way too much in the second half. We’re up 28 with 11:34 and we only had three assists the rest of the way.
“It was a little opportunity of well, I can get mine a little bit and I’ll hit the first inside-out shot…that’s one of the great challenges of playing 10 guys. Nobody is going to be putting up big numbers when you’re playing 10 guys on a regular basis. It does kind of creep in there. They go home, hear it from their friends, hear it from their parents…we know why in our locker room, so that’s something we can’t be a distraction.”
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More from Pearl below:
On giving walk-on Carter Sobera a scholarship following the game:
“I’ve always put 12 guys on scholarship, played 10 or 11. I just don’t like having guys on scholarship that aren’t playing, sometimes it happens. It allows me to be honest in recruiting and try to recruit the right way and not have a bunch of guys on the bench that I promised minutes and roles to that I couldn’t deliver.”
Pearl on his thinking during LSU’s 21-2 run and not calling a timeout:
“Part of it is, I don’t want to call a timeout and let them rest. I don’t want to let Matt (McMahon) get a hold of them in the sense that Will Baker played 28 (minutes) and Jordan Wright played 36…I thought we did a nice job on (Jalen) Cook…Denver Jones has locked in the last two guards he has faced. Denver has played against Wade Taylor and Cook. Cook had 28 against A&M, and Denver is not scoring. Denver isn’t getting a lot of shots, we need to get Denver Jones more shots offensively. If Jordan Wright is going to play 36 minutes, I’m not calling a timeout to let them rest.”
On forcing 17 LSU turnovers, 16 of which were steals:
“Have Chad Baker on the floor and that’s three or four on the floor before we even get started. He’s a problem out there. He’s so versatile out there, knocked down three threes tonight, shot a good percentage, I trust him as a playmaker and trust him defensively. He does all that. He managed to get 27 minutes and that would be a high. He’s earned it. LSU does turn it over some, like they force you into 15 or 16, but they do turn it over some.”
On Auburn’s second group continuing to play well off the bench:
“It’s getting obvious that our second group coming in is effective defensively in turning people over. Part of it is when that group comes in, the other teams’ starters are in there. They are fresh and furious and able to make plays, that’s part of what we try to do.”
On Auburn playing with passion and playing to the crowd at home:
“The crowd was great. It always is. I like the guys to have fun. I don’t mind them celebrating. They celebrate more than I do because I’m older. I want them playing with passion and I want them having fun. I coach them hard, I work them hard, I have high expectations for them. I want them to have joy in the game, but they really do respond. At the same time, I want it to be sportsmanlike.”
On Chad Baker-Mazara’s confidence in the team defensively:
“That could be infectious in the team. How about some of the plays Chaney Johnson made tonight? Chaney was flying around out there. KD is a problem. Dylan is such a great defender and physically, doing it without fouling. That group does take a great deal of pride…and as a result, their plus/minus — doing it on both ends.”
On this Auburn team being able to burst out to big leads:
“We press and we do some things to wear people down a little bit. You can be defensive or you can try and dictate, and that’s what we try and do. Our guys recognize they can make some offense from their defense, that’s where your transition comes in, so you get rewarded by making plays on the defensive end.”
On passing Cliff Ellis for second-place all-time in Auburn coaching wins:
“It means a lot to me because history means a lot to me. It doesn’t mean as much to me personally as it does to me and my staff, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that stuff matters because I talk about our team and our program and trying to hold up our end. I know also we are going to continue to move in the rankings because it’s conference play and people are going to lose. I don’t think we are the 16th best team in the country. I think there are more than 16 teams better than we are. We are better than what they thought, but we are not as good as they now think we are.”
On shooting 87 percent from the FT line in the win and over 75 percent on the season:
“All the credit goes to the players. All of it. The fact that my five man, the fact that Dylan and Johni are shooting the percentage they are shooting is all the difference. Those guys have spent tireless hours in the gym.”
On starting 3-0 in the league (other three times at Auburn, the team has finished with 25 or more wins):
“I could go well, we’ve played two of the three games at home. We did beat two of the top five teams preseason…but a lot of that has to do with the schedule and how it falls. We’ll take it one game at a time, stay humble and hungry.”
