3/9/23 Basketball Articles

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Auburn ready for challenge against Arkansas

Published: Mar. 08, 2023, 6:48 p.m.

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Auburn knocks off No. 12 Tennessee to close regular season

By

• Nubyjas Wilborn | nwilborn@al.com

No. 7-seeded Auburn (20-11, 10-8 Southeastern Conference) is in Nashville to play No. 10-seeded Arkansas (19-12, 8-11 SEC) in the second round of the 2023 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament. The game is on Thursday (6 p.m. CT SEC Network) at Bridgestone Arena.

Bruce Pearl’s squad ended the season with a 4-8 record in the final 12 games. The Tigers were 16-3 with a 6-1 mark in SEC play after an 81-66 win on Jan 21st at South Carolina. Auburn led the majority of the time in both losses against Alabama. Pearl’s team lost close games against Vanderbilt and Tennessee.

Losing both games against Texas A&M also put a damper on the season. However, beating No. 12 Tennessee in a rematch at Neville Arena in the season finale has the Tigers believing they’re more like the team that won 16 of its first 19 games rather than a unit that lost eight of its last 12 contests.

Read More Auburn Basketball: Auburn knows opportunity awaits in SEC Tournament, but Tigers aren’t overlooking Arkansas

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Wendell Green, Johni Broome, and Bruce Pearl look back on regular season

“It kind of just tells us that we can do it, but we knew that going into it,” Green told reporters. “We can beat these teams; we’re just losing close games. And then to finally do it, it shows us, as a team, finally — we could do it. We proved it to ourselves, so now going into any game, we’ve got confidence against anybody.”

Arkansas is the lower seed; however, the Razorbacks are favored to win by several sportsbooks.

“And now the reward for such a job well done is we get to play the 18th-best team in the country, according to the NET,” Pearl said. “Arkansas is seeded 10th in the SEC tournament, but based on the NET, they’re the 18th seed in the NCAA tournament. You go figure that one. What a great reward.”

Auburn defeated the Razorbacks 72-59 after a disheartening road loss at Georgia in January as conference play started to heat up. It’s imperative to remember that Arkansas didn’t have Nick Smith, who averages nearly 14 points and two assists per game.

Smith on the court eliminates Auburn’s ability to go a zone defense because of his shooting skills. Several months ago, the zone was an essential element in the Tigers’ wire-to-wire victory.

“They weren’t at full strength because they didn’t have Nick Smith,” They were at a time in their season when they weren’t shooting the ball well. And we took full advantage of it by playing 40 possessions of the zone. We probably have played 80 possessions of the zone on the season, 40 of them in that game. But that was just because Arkansas was struggling so much from three.”

Smith is averaging nearly 20 points a game in his last five since returning to the starting lineup. Senior guard Zep Jasper is one of the best defensive players in the conference. He doesn’t shoot the ball often and scores 3.0 points a game on three shot attempts a game. His value is in his defense, and he’ll get a test with Smith.

“I’m ready,” Jasper told reporters in Nashville. “Smith is a handful. It’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m looking forward to a great game. I’m going to do my best to stop him.”

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Auburn vs. Arkansas: Stream, injury report, broadcast info for Thursday's SEC Tournament opener

Taylor Jones

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The Auburn Tigers travel to Nashville on Thursday to face the Arkansas Razorbacks in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament, and if you’re wondering how you can watch the action live, you’ve come to the right place.

The No. 7 Auburn Tigers look to improve their NCAA Tournament stock on Thursday night by earning a win over No. 10 Arkansas. For Wendell Green Jr., it is an opportunity to earn one more win over a team that he has disdain for. His feeling of contempt towards Arkansas stems back to the Razorbacks’ upset win over then-No. 1 Auburn on Feb. 8, 2022, in Fayetteville.

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“We don’t like Arkansas. Just their fans, you know, they probably hate me more than Bama fans, you know? Their fans are crazy,” Green said Tuesday of his team’s first opponent in the SEC Tournament. “Just only playing them one time last year, that kind of sucked to me, because I didn’t get a chance to play them again.”

Auburn got revenge on the Razorbacks earlier this season by defeating them, 72-59 at Neville Arena on Jan. 7. In the game, Green led his team in scoring with 19 points.

Below, you will find all of the information you need for Saturday’s game in Nashville, including a how-to-watch guide, an injury report, and a projected starting five.

Here’s when you should tune in to see the game:

• Date: Thursday, March 9
• Time: 6 p.m. CT
• TV Channel: SEC Network (Tom Hart, Dane Bradshaw, Alyssa Lang)
• Live Stream: fuboTV (watch here)
• Radio: Auburn Sports Network (Andy Burcham, Randall Dickey)

AUBURN
Dylan Cardwell	Ankle	Doubtful for Thursday’s game
Chance Westry	Knee	Doubtful for Thursday’s game
ARKANSAS
Trevon Brazile	Knee	Out for season

AUBURN

G	Wendell Green Jr.
G	Zep Jasper
G	Allen Flanigan
F	Jaylin Williams
F	Johni Broome

ARKANSAS

G	Anthony Black
G	Nick Smith Jr.
G	Devo Davis
F	Makhel Mitchell
F	Makhi Mitchell

AUBURN

• Wendell Green Jr.
• Johni Broome
• Jaylin Williams

ARKANSAS

• Anthony Black
• Nick Smith Jr.
• Ricky Council IV

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Auburn is a slight underdog against Arkansas to start the SEC Tournament

JD McCarthy

~2 minutes

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The Auburn Tigers will start their postseason Thursday night when they take on the Arkansas Razorbacks.

While the Tigers handily won their regular-season matchup 72-59, this matchup will be much tougher. Not only was that game in Neville Arena, but the Razorbacks were without five-star freshman guard Nick Smith Jr. In his last five games, he is averaging 19.4 points and looks like a potential lottery pick.

While the Razorbacks have improved since their first matchup, Auburn is also coming into the game with some momentum. They picked up their biggest win of the season Saturday when they beat the Tennessee Volunteers 79-70, to all but clinch their spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Despite this, the Tigers are the underdogs against Razorbacks, with BetMGM favoring them by 1.5 points. Here is everything you need to know about the matchup before you place a bet.

Betting Lines

The lines, courtesy of BetMGM

• Point spread: Auburn +1.5

• Over-under: 144.5

Click here to place your bets at BetMGM.

Injury Report

AUBURN
Dylan Cardwell	Ankle	Doubtful for Thursday’s game
Chance Westry	Knee	Doubtful for Thursday’s game
ARKANSAS
Trevon Brazile	Knee	Out for season

Advice and Prediction

This series is split evenly over the last 10 matchups and this should be another close contest.

The Tigers will once again face the tough task of stopping a talented guard in Nick Smith Jr. and the Razorbacks have gone on some impressive postseason runs under Eric Musselman in the past couple of seasons.

With Auburn’s road struggles (4-8 record), it feels like the Razorbacks are the right pick to win the game and cover the 1.5-point spread but look for Auburn to keep it close.

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire

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What Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl said he learned from Tennessee legend Pat Summitt

Richard Silva, Montgomery Advertiser

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. − Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl spent six seasons at Tennessee from 2005-11, overlapping in Knoxville with legendary women's basketball coach Pat Summitt for his entire tenure.

The two were friends, supporting each other's programs in various ways. Most memorable was Pearl painting himself orange and sitting in the student section of one of the women's games. To return the favor, Summitt later appeared at a men's game dressed as a cheerleader, leading the crowd in a rendition of "Rocky Top."

But the relationship between the two exceeded the antics. Pearl watched Summitt work, and he still reaches back to the things he learned more than a decade later.

INJURUY UPDATE:Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl gives update on Dylan Cardwell

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POTENTIAL COMEBACK:What Auburn basketball's Allen Flanigan, Jaylin Williams said when asked if they're returning

"I learned from the great Pat Summitt," Pearl told reporters Wednesday at the SEC Tournament in Nashville. "She used to tell great, great players like Candace Parker, 'Look girl you signed up for this. You said you wanted to be a Lady Vol. Now you need to behave like it, act like it, train like it (and) play like it.' That's what I do. Don't come to Auburn unless you want to be an Auburn man.

"Don't come to Auburn unless you want to be coached hard, be a champion and find out how good you can be. Because I'm going to ride you hard, but I'm going to love along the way. I'll spoil them, but I'll slap the spoiled right off them."

Pearl added: "(The players are) my life. Coach Pat Dye, the great Pat Dye, who we miss so terribly much at Auburn, said you can coach them as hard as you love them. And I love them, and I coach them hard. I have high expectations for all of them."

 

Tennessee basketball coaches Bruce Pearl and Pat Summitt say hello as the men's team enters the court for a walk through before the game against Auburn in 2006.

 

Summitt died in 2016.

The Tigers (20-11, 10-8 SEC) begin their run in the SEC Tournament against Arkansas (19-12, 8-10) on Thursday (6 p.m. CT, SEC Network).

Auburn starting forward Jaylin Williams said Pearl is "very chill," despite what some may think when watching his demeanor on the sidelines.

"If you really need to talk with him, if you've got something serious, I know some players are scared to have a conversation with their coaches, but you can always go to BP. And he's going to be very understanding of the situation on and off the court. ...

"Just communicate with him. He's always there."

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: What Auburn basketball learned from Pat Summitt