2/13/23 Auburn Articles

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Auburn vs. Alabama basketball: Bruce Pearl addresses skid, March Madness hopes after 77-69 loss

Grant Hughes

6–7 minutes

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The ice keeping Auburn's NCAA Tournament hopes afloat drew thinner Saturday with a 77-69 rivalry loss to Alabama, the Tigers' fifth defeat in their past six games. After the game, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl reflected on his team's recent losing streak and where they stand as March rapidly approaches.

"Auburn coaches, Auburn players, Auburn fans ... Auburn doesn't like to lose to Alabama," Pearl said in his postgame press conference. "We've had such a good year from the standpoint of beating teams we're supposed to beat. The margins that we've lost have been close. The NCAA Tournament is in play and on the line. We talked about that after the game."

Auburn led for 25 minutes of the game and clung to a one-point advantage with 6:12 left in regulation before missing nine-straight shots down the stretch. The Tigers were paced by Wendell Green Jr.'s 24 points and held the No. 3 Crimson Tide's leading scorer Brandon Miller, who was 0-for-7 on 3-pointers, to 13 points.

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Here is everything else Pearl said afterward:

"Auburn coaches, Auburn players, Auburn fans ... Auburn doesn't like to lose to Alabama. The win means a lot. It especially means a lot when the opponent is so good. Alabama has been a really, really good basketball team for the last four years. We've had great games with them. We've had some success. We've had some losses. We put ourselves in a position to win the game. We just didn't make shots at times. That's the tough part of it.

"The last six minutes or so, our defense in the second half wasn't as good as it was in the first half. I talked to the entire team about what that looks like, and the importance of the bench, and that the bench needs to feel as responsible for not winning as the starters. If the bench plays better, then I'm able to rest those guys to win at the end. It's a shared responsibility. Our team has played a lot of good basketball and is playing well, just not well enough to beat them, arguably the best team in the country."

"We've lost to five NCAA Tournament teams. We've had such a good year from the standpoint of beating teams we're supposed to beat. We've got some great road wins. The margins that we've lost have been close. Our NET is not getting destroyed, which keeps you where you need to be. We've got some games coming up this week that we need to win. That's the mindset. The mindset is how quickly can we learn from the plays that we didn't make that are continuing to cost us from winning on both ends of the floor?"

"I thought that we could have made more plays defensively. We obviously chose not to come off shooters and make them beat us from two, and they did. They got downhill and attacked. If we'd come off, they'd be banging threes, and the margin would be more than what it is. On the offensive end, when we get a good inside touch, we need to get a bucket or foul. When we get a jump shot off a ball screen, we need to make a bucket. We obviously weren't able to do that."

"We recruited Rylan Griffin. What a great kid. He's got a great, great future. He's a great shooter. He's not afraid to make plays. That's one of the things about Alabama; they've got great depth. They've got three elite playmaking guards in Jaden Bradley, Jahvon Quinerly and Mark Sears. Quinerly is a great player, and he didn't play well. To go on the road at Auburn and win, and he'll be fine the next game. ... That's what Alabama has. They've got a closet full. They don't drop off when they go to the bench.

"I thought our guys did a pretty good job on Brandon Miller. We did a good job guarding him from three, but they have a lot of weapons."

ON JOHNI BROOME'S PLAY

"He got some pretty good looks in there. We got him some deeper touches. If I could have done a better job of getting him deeper touches and better looks, he might have shot a better percentage. I wanted to go to him more in the second half. I think we started the second half trying to get it to him but didn't stick with it."

"Missouri will come in on Tuesday. They are absolutely on fire. They are trying to get themselves on the bubble. I'm not sure exactly where they're at. They're really close, and they're fighting to go to the tournament. They are right there with the first four in or the first four out. It's going to be a really, really hard-fought game. The NCAA Tournament is in play and on the line. We talked about that after the game."

1COMMENTS

"I promise you, don't worry about me getting them ready. Missouri is really good. We will respect them. They understand, especially with Tennessee and Alabama coming up. We need to be more than ready to play. We need to play better. We need to shoot better. We need to make plays on both ends of the floor better. We need more guys to step up. I've got to do a better job. We need all that. It doesn't matter who we're playing."

">247Sports

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Top Auburn Players to Watch vs. Missouri - February 14

Auburn guard Allen Flanigan (22) dribbles during an NCAA college basketball game against LSU in Baton Rouge, La., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)(APMedia)

By Data Skrive

Published: Feb. 12, 2023 at 5:29 AM CST|Updated: 7 hours ago

 

 

Neville Arena is where the Auburn Tigers (17-8, 7-5 SEC) and Missouri Tigers (19-6, 7-5 SEC) will clash on Tuesday at 7:00 PM ET. Wendell Green Jr. is one of the players to watch when these two squads hit the hardwood.

In the article below, we'll give you all the info you need to know about who to look out for in this matchup on ESPN.

Use our link to get a free trial of fuboTV, where you can watch college hoops and tons of other live sports without cable!

How to Watch Auburn vs. Missouri

• Game Day: Tuesday, February 14
• Game Time: 7:00 PM ET
• Arena: Neville Arena
• Location: Auburn, Alabama
• TV: ESPN | Watch live on FuboTV

Watch college hoops all season without cable on all your devices with a seven-day free trial to fuboTV!

Auburn's Last Game

On Saturday, in its most recent game, Auburn fell to the Alabama 77-69. With 24 points, Green was its top scorer.

Name	PTS	REB	ASST	STL	BLK	3PM
Wendell Green Jr.	24	3	2	2	0	4
Jaylin Williams	16	0	0	2	0	3
K.D. Johnson	12	7	3	2	0	0

Auburn Players to Watch

Johni Broome is tops on the Auburn Tigers at 9.0 rebounds per game, while also averaging 1.3 assists and 13.5 points.

Jaylin Williams posts 10.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. Defensively, he posts 1.1 steals and 0.9 blocked shots.

Allen Flanigan posts 9.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists per contest, shooting 43.2% from the field and 32.1% from beyond the arc with 1.0 made 3-pointers per game.

K.D. Johnson is averaging 8.3 points, 1.3 assists and 2.0 rebounds per contest.

Top Performers (Last 10 Games)

Name	PTS	REB	ASST	STL	BLK	3PM
Johni Broome	14.3	9.2	1.3	0.9	2.1	0.0
Wendell Green Jr.	16.6	3.0	5.3	2.3	0.0	1.8
Jaylin Williams	12.1	4.9	2.7	1.1	0.9	1.3
Allen Flanigan	11.2	5.8	1.1	1.2	0.1	1.1
K.D. Johnson	7.4	2.2	1.0	1.1	0.0	0.6

© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved.

 

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What Bruce Pearl and Auburn basketball players said about officiating in Alabama loss

Richard Silva, Montgomery Advertiser

2–3 minutes

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AUBURN — In a 77-69 loss to No. 3 Alabama on Saturday, Auburn basketball held the Crimson Tide to just six attempts from the free-throw line in the first half. In the final 20 minutes, however, that total ballooned to 23.

Coach Bruce Pearl doesn't fault the officials as much as he puts the blame on his team, though.

"Teams average, I don't know whether it's 17 or 18 free throws a game roughly, I don't know what the national average is, but something in that high teens," he said. "So, to send them to the foul line 17 times in the second half, we fouled too much. We sent Texas A&M to the foul line 39 times (on Tuesday). We have to defend without fouling."

On the other end, the Tigers finished with 26 free throws, but fans let the referees have it in Neville Arena after Allen Flanigan grabbed an offensive rebound late in the game and went back up at the rim. He missed, and there was certainly contact, but the officials decided it wasn't enough to constitute a foul.

THE GAME:Auburn basketball threatens No. 3 Alabama, but Tigers lose another close one late

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Johni Broome grabbed Flanigan's miss, but he couldn't finish on a layup at the rim, either. Alabama went down the court and threw down a dunk to extend its lead to six with under a minute remaining in the game.

"I'm not trying to cry for no fouls," Auburn forward Jaylin Williams said. "We've got to finish through contact, that's on us. We've just got to finish through contact, just keep going to the rim even if we don't get a whistle. Like, it's part of the game. Refs are human, too."

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Bruce Pearl, Auburn basketball players on officiating in Alabama game