Tennessee basketball snapped Auburn’s four-game winning streak Saturday night, leading wire-to-wire in a 77-69 victory in Knoxville.
Following the game, Auburn head coach Steven Pearl discussed Tennessee’s physicality inside, not being able to get over the hump and much more. Here’s everything Pearl said.
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Opening Statement
“Credit Tennessee. They beat us at our own game. They pushed us around, punked us. They got to the foul line 11 more times than we did, did a really good job with attacking the paint. They hit four early threes and they didn’t continue to settle for threes like we did. They continued to attack the rim. They just out physical’d us and kind of had their way. They did a lot of the things that disrupted us. Credit to them. They do a great job of going to the ball and making you settle for three. And our guys got to do a better job of making open shots. And we weren’t able to do that tonight. Our four best 3-point shooters combined to go 7-for-31. Not going to win when you do that on the road. But Tennessee had a lot to do with that. They do a great job. And we got to be better.”
On how he felt like Auburn held up inside against Tennessee
“Yeah, we got punked in the first 15 minutes. It wasn’t just our bigs. We do a lot of switching, so it was our guards, too. It was the five guys on the floor the first 15 minutes. They got pushed around. And that’s what Tennessee is really good at. And when (DeWayne) Brown and (Jaylen) Carey and J.P. (Estrella) all play more minutes, those are the four guys that physically can really impose on you. With Felix (Okpara) not being out there, he’s more of your shot blocker. He’s not going to duck you in as much. And when those three guys get to play more minutes, physically, they’re a load. And our guys just got punked tonight. And we did a better job after the first 15. We were just a little more competitive. We had nine offensive rebounds the last 25 minutes of the game. Filip (Jovic) did a great job of coming in and just not getting pushed around, gave a lot of multiple efforts. But we’re going to watch that film. We missed a million checkouts. And it’s the difference in the game. So that’s been that’s been our identity for for the first eight games of conference. We’ve done a really good job of pushing our teams around. And tonight Tennessee did the exact same thing to us. So got to give them a lot of credit.”
On what the combination of DeWayne Brown and Jaylen Carey give Tennessee
“Yeah, they look like two SEC defensive ends out there that were just ducking in, and we just weren’t able to get around them. And they draw fouls,in the moment when they draw a foul you don’t think it’s a big deal. But then they get into the bonus quickly, and then you’re able to get guys like Nate and DeWayne did a great job of knocking down his free throws. They made their free throws tonight, which was huge. And when you get early fouls in the half and you’re trying to, like, guard the posts it leads them into getting in the bonus and they did a great job of that. So those two guys were a handful. They did a great job. They were incredibly effective. And our guys really had no answer for them physically. Unless we were just gonna completely pack the paint and just completely sell out. So our guys have done a good job all year of fronting the post. We just weren’t able to do it tonight.”
On what allows Nate Ament to draw so many fouls
“I mean, obviously you try to get physical with them. I’d have to watch the film, and just kind of see. Like a couple of our fouls were just kind of silly. Like we’re 25 feet away from the basket and like if you’re physical 25 feet away from the basket, it’s just a stupid foul, right? We did that like three or four times. But I talked about this earlier in the week. Like Rick and his staff have done a great job with him. Like, he’s just way more physical on his post-ups, on his drives. Like he doesn’t get knocked off his spot as much. So he’s just playing more physically. He’s playing more aggressive. We did a good job on the shots that we didn’t foul. He went 4-for-16. Like, that’s not great. But he hit 12 big free throws. So he did a great job of knocking his free throws down and he only turned the ball over twice. He’s just continuing to get better. He’s done a great job drawing contacts. Done a better job of just playing physically. Has his shoulders down more.”
On what’s different about being a head coach in the SEC compared to assistant or player
“I wouldn’t say different. Just, for me, it’s just we’ve just tried to be really consistent in what we’ve done, and what we’ve been doing. Yeah, I don’t know. Not sure I can answer that question. One of the things that definitely holds true is like it’s never as good as you think it is. It’s never as bad as you think it is. So for me, it’s like not letting the highs get too high. Not letting the lows get too low. So, like, yeah, this one’s gonna hurt. It’s going to sting, but I’d be an idiot if I hung onto this for too long. Like, let’s watch the film, break it down with the guys one-on-one and just learn from it, right? Like we’ve been doing all conference play. Let’s find a way to get better from it. We got pushed around, we got punked tonight. We got physically out-manned. In order for us to win games, we can’t let that happen. So, just the biggest thing I’ve learned is, like, consistency’s been really key. When you find something that works, stick to it. You gotta trust it and when you trust it, ultimately, you know, the results will go your way.”
On Auburn being able to cut Tennessee’s lead down, but not being able to get over the hump in the second half
“Jus, we made some silly, like, offensive decisions. You know, we got them in — like, we forced some turnovers, and, you know, we got in transition, and we played off one foot instead of physically going up off two and finishing through contact. One time I think we had like a three-on-one, we shoot a corner three. Like, the f**k are we doing? Like, go get a layup, you know? So, yeah, the trip was, you know, that was tough. Because it’s a four-point game and, you know, we thought we had the ball out of bounds and they then go on a four or 6-0 run. So it was a big swing in the game. But man, you know, we had a ton of opportunities. You know, Ja’Kobi being in foul trouble. We were able to get back into the game and we cut it to four or six, and then we had just a bunch of empty possessions. The reason why we won four in a row and five out of six is we had way less empty possessions offensively. We’ve had a lot of structure and we’ve been intentional to what we’ve been doing. We kind of got away from that tonight. And, you know, we played hero ball a bit, and we hadn’t done that. Like, there’s no four-point plays. Well, there is, that’s a lie. There’s no six or eight-point plays. And that’s what we got away from tonight. We did a good job with that in the Texas game. We took it one position at a time. I thought tonight, we tried to get it all back in one, and, you know, ultimately, Tennessee did a great job of capitalizing off our mistakes.”
On how big four-point plays are like the one Auburn had at the end of the first half
“Yeah, I mean, you know, I drew that up. No, I’m kidding. Yeah, those are big swings. I thought a couple times, you know, we got to stop fouling three-point shooters, too. But, you know, we’re down 14 and (Kevin Overton) makes a big one, and you cut it to 10, you feel like you’re still in the game, right? Guys didn’t quit. We haven’t all year. Our guys have done a pretty good job of just kind of staying locked in, staying composed. But for (Kevin Overton) to step up at the end of the half and knock down a shot, it gave us an opportunity to come in at halftime and say, ‘hey, listen, we’re in a great spot. We just gotta keep chipping away.’ We almost did that, but we just had too many undisciplined plays offensively, that kind of cost us.”
