Auburn coach Bruce Pearl has a lot of reasons to like the team coach John Calipari has this year. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl got a chance Sunday to look at how Kentucky dismantled Tennessee 107-78 last week and what he saw made a huge impression.
“I looked at Kentucky a little bit on Sunday, enough to not be able to have dinner,” Pearl said on the SEC Network after Auburn’s win.
“I think this team is probably as good as maybe the Anthony Davis team (in 2012) that Cal had (that won the national championship. They got stuff inside, they got wing shooters, they got two dynamic point guards, they’re playing fast, and they’re really good in transition.
“It’ll be a dynamic matchup. I think right now, Auburn and Kentucky right now, today, are the two best teams in the league, today.”
That dynamic matchup is coming Saturday at Auburn. The No. 2 Tigers have won 14 straight games and are 17-1 overall. Kentucky is 15-3 overall and has won eight of its last nine games.
Auburn is coming off a 23-point win over Georgia while UK had to rally from a 13-point deficit to win at Texas A&M in its last game.
“Kentucky played a team that hadn’t lost in the league; we played a team that hadn’t won yet,” Pearl said in his TV interview after the Georgia win. “They’re coming in feeling really good about a road win at Texas A&M. We’re going in not feeling very good about the way we played tonight.”
However, Auburn fans are feeling good about the Tigers and a matchup of two of the nation’s best teams with the winner having a clear edge in the SEC championship race.
“We had great energy in the building. Once again, the environment was fantastic here in this arena. I appreciate all of our fans more than I could even begin to tell you,” Pearl said after the Tigers beat Georgia.
So if the atmosphere was like that for Georgia, imagine what it will be like for Kentucky on Saturday.
Six Tigers scored in double figures against Georgia. Wendell Green had 12 points and 11 assists and Walker Kessler had 15 points and six of Auburn’s 10 blocked shots. Star freshman forward Jabari Smith had 12 points and has 10 or more points in 15 straight games.
Auburn is 6-0 in SEC play for the only the second time in program history going back to 1959 and are the only unbeaten team in SEC play. Saturday’s game will be the first matchup of top-12 teams in the 12-year history of Auburn Arena.
“We’ve got to step up in a huge way for Kentucky,” Pearl said. “I think it’s one of the best teams John (Calipari) has had in years. It’ll be a clash of the titans, that’s for sure.”
“Take away the rankings: The winner of this game is going to be at least in control of the regular season championship moving forward, because we only play them once. So it’s a huge opportunity for either team to kind of put themselves in position where everybody else is going to be looking up at you.”
However, Pearl also understands what the matchup is about more than just one game for the Auburn program.
“It’s great that on a Saturday in the middle of January, all eyes of the country will be on Auburn, Alabama, on CBS, on a Saturday afternoon. And it’ll be for men’s basketball. That’s something that you might not have said a few years ago,” Pearl said.
10 Responses
Our guards will have to be better at stopping penetration on Saturday. Can Wheeler control Green? We get in trouble when 2 or more of our guys have to be involved in stopping one of their guys. Toppin needs to shadow Jabari Smith and not be concerned with giving help defense, boxing him off the boards will be help enough. Collins is not ready for such an assignment. Keion is a little undersized, but playing shadow defense will offset that everywhere except at the rim. Oscar struggles some with height, but if they play him at the top of the key, Kessler may not always go out to cover him and Oscar can make that shot. If our guys can keep those 3 guys in check, I like our chance of getting a win. Washington, Grady, and Mintz are more than capable scorers if they can keep their composure. If Grady has another 1 for 9 afternoon, giving Dontaie a shot to have another M.State performance from last year would be worth the gamble. Auburn is favored, but it seems that Pearl is uncomfortable coaching from that perspective. That could be the difference. Go CATS!
The arena will be packed, the atmosphere will be like a circus with Pearl as the ringmaster and the officiating will be poor. UK will get key players in foul trouble (Oscar and TyTy) and UK will struggle with Auburn’s athleticism. It will be difficult for most of UK’s players to get off clean shots against Auburn’s physical defense. I look for a game very similar to the A&M or LSU game where the opponent bullies the Cats for 40 minutes with few foul calls. Look for Auburn to beat a poor shooting UK by 8.
Students camping out on Friday afternoon
Why be so negative and think were going to lose. I got confidence they can get it done, this team has grown leap and bounds lets cheer them on as a positive. cat fan
should be a great test and even a loss is not the end of the world
True Larry
The SEC has stacked the deck to give Auburn the easiest schedule this season. I guess the league office is getting tired of hearing KY, KY, KY and is trying to elevate at least one more team to that level. We don’t get a shot at them in Lexington this year and their light conference schedule makes it iffy that anyone else will top them either. That makes the SEC tourney even that more important as far as Big Dance seeding goes.
Auburn only plays KY, TN and LSU one time, with TN being the only road game. The conference office has to do better than that.
So did NCAA gave Auburn a slap on the wrist it just shows there telling Bruce Pearl it’s ok to cheat were ever he’s coaching.
Looks like I missed the final score by 1 point but I nailed the poor officiating. Some of the worst of the season.