Pearl: Auburn ‘still in control’ of NCAA Tournament destiny

At 15-14 and squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble, Auburn still has everything in front of it in the eyes of head coach Steven Pearl.

Pearl believes the Tigers don’t need outside help. They simply need to harness what they’ve already shown they can be.

“Yeah, we’re still in control of our own destiny,” Pearl said. “If you win these next two, you’re probably in. Regardless, you have to take it one game at a time. We’ve got to do everything we can to beat LSU.”

The next two are LSU and at Alabama.

Knocking off the Crimson Tide would be a massive Quad I win. Auburn is 5-11 in Quad I games this season. The damaging home loss to Ole Miss on Saturday was Auburn’s first Quad III loss of the season.

But it hasn’t felt that simple lately. Auburn has endured a difficult stretch, with close losses and late-game mistakes piling up. But despite the frustration, Pearl pointed to the bigger picture.

“At the end of the day, through all the difficulty and all the struggles, we’re still in position to make the tournament,” he said. “We’ve just gotta try and find a way to have that belief. We know it’s there. We have six really good wins this year against six teams that are locks to be in the NCAA Tournament. We’ve just got to find a way.”

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi places Auburn among the “First Four Out” entering the final week of the regular season.

To reinforce that message, Auburn’s staff went back to the tape.

“We showed a lot of film of those games yesterday,” Pearl said. “Our guys have got to find a way to harness that and continue to believe.”

Pearl said the confidence must be paired with sharper execution. Auburn’s margin for error is thin, and self-inflicted mistakes have proven costly.

“We’ve got to find a way to stay locked in and consistent with what we’re doing,” Pearl said. “If we can eliminate some of the mistakes we continue to make on the defensive end — and even the offensive end.”

Pearl was quick to clarify that the issues aren’t limited to one side of the ball.

“We had 14 turnovers that led to 18 or 19 points. That’s significant,” he said of Saturday’s loss. It’s the second straight game Auburn has turned the ball over 14 times.

“We’ve just got to cut down on some of our mistakes. We get up seven, we get the ball stolen from us, we gamble on defense a couple times. Then we get up eight in the second half and we do the exact same thing. We’ve got to value possessions more when we have leads. If we do that, we can win some of these games.”

Despite the noise surrounding their record, Pearl insists the Tigers still control their fate.

“We still have a chance to do everything we want to accomplish, as crazy as that continues to sound,” Pearl said.