What Bruce Pearl said about the Iowa matchup, NCAA Tournament outlook
AUBURN — The day after Auburn learned their NCAA Tournament fate, head coach Bruce Pearl spoke with the media again about the upcoming matchup against Iowa. It’s a quick turnaround from learning matchups on Sunday evening, scouting, developing the game plan, setting travel schedules, traveling and playing on Thursday.
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Auburn earned its first ever 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, and their overall seed was No. 35. That’s in line with their No. 32 ranking in the NET.
The Tigers tipoff against Iowa at 5:50 pm CT on Thursday evening at Legacy Arena. Auburn is 20-12. Iowa is 19-13. It will be a battle of one of the nation’s best offenses in Iowa against Auburn’s 12th-ranked effective field goal percentage defense nationally.
As always, here’s what Pearl said on Monday after a day or scouting Iowa and thinking more about Auburn’s outlook:
— “I knew they were good, but they’re better than I thought,” Pearl said of Iowa. “Kris Murray is a pro, a four-man who can score inside and out.” .. talked about focusing a lot on “how to guard them.”
— “We try to defend like Iowa State does…” Iowa beat Iowa State by 19 earlier in the season. Pearl mentions Iowa is a team of runs and “can score in bunches.”
— “They don’t play like a typical Big Ten team…they play fast.”
— More on Iowa’s offense: “(Fran McCaffery) gives his players confidence. .. They play in space. They’re a great inside-out team, back cutting team, and we’ve struggled against Arkansas’ back cutting.”
— On the team’s mindset and status: “Steven Pearl mentioned this to me… 31,000 miles traveled between Israel and Cancun and California and Texas and West Virginia, a lot of late nights coming home… the team had to get up off the mat a lot this year.” Pearl said, “that wears on you.”
— Bruce Pearl said they practiced hard on Saturday and expects the guys to be fresh on Thursday. “There’s new wind in their sails.”
— Pearl states the “body of work” was clearly a huge part of getting into the tournament. He said Auburn ranked fourth in number of appearances against tournament teams this season, saying only Kansas, Texas and Baylor played more NCAA Tournament teams this season.
— Does Iowa remind Pearl of anyone Auburn has played? “They’re much bigger than Missouri, but they do some things” that remind him of Missouri. “They remind me a little of Arkansas because of their length and size.”
— On playing in Birmingham: “Our players will feel the support” from the fans there. Pearl hopes it will energize them to play their best and “withstand Iowa’s runs.” He adds, “we caught a break and we have to take advantage.”
