Vicki Graff Photo
Not everyone liked what Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said about Kentucky’s “physical” play after the Wildcats defeated his team Saturday night.
But I thought this was the best compliment Pearl could give UK, as the lack of physicality had been a big issue for the Cats throughout most of the season.
“They were more physical. There were some plays that they were going to send into the league. They were really physical. But when you get challenged by kids not playing hard, it’s hard. It happens, so they go out and play hard and move and play,” Pearl said.
Kentucky did just that and was never forced by the Tigers at any point during the game. UK’s defense held Auburn to 31 percent shooting.
“I’d give Kentucky more credit for that. I’d give their defense more credit. Yes, they missed open shots. No, they didn’t have many tough shots. They looked better. I thought we got better. We looked better. When you look at the South Carolina game (when Auburn scored 101 points), it’s two completely different games,” Pearl said. .
“Our offensive efficiency numbers against South Carolina were record-breaking, basically going down and scoring every time. We put the ball where we wanted, when we wanted, and did what we wanted. Kentucky It confused us. The length of the rim obviously confused us. Their ball pressure confused us. They had good scouts.
“I think you think, ‘Okay, this is what Kentucky’s guards are like, they can beat anyone.’ But we know that. How do they rank? They’re a national-level team. They’re a third or fourth seed in the NCAA Tournament. They played well and we didn’t, and that’s why we lost.”
Agreed. Kentucky tasted better, and Pearl knew that.
“This wasn’t a demoralizing game. That was a good team, they played a really good game, they played a really good game,” Pearl said when asked if this was a demoralizing loss for the team. He answered: “What’s so demoralizing about losing when Kentucky is playing so well?” I can’t even answer that. Do I look depressed to you? Does anyone else think I’m depressed? ”
Pearl on Friday called UK still the “gold standard” in SEC basketball, noting that UK has played better on the road than at Rupp Arena, where it has lost four games this season. Auburn’s coaches also knew Kentucky could be better defensively than it was before.
“Kentucky can guard, they can get up when they want to. They outplayed us tonight. They played really well. We knew their guard was good, and late in the game they had a decent defense. When they hit shots and kept us at bay, they were able to do that,” Pearl said.
“(Antonio) Reeves is killing us every year. He’s a big guard and can shoot. We held them to 70 points and they averaged 90 points. We played hard, Obviously we made some plays on the defensive side. Their ball pressure confused us. Our point guard had no assists, just one basket. The ball pressure from their guard. That didn’t allow us to put the ball in the spots on the floor that we needed to run our offense and get the ball inside.”
hang on. Pearl continued to praise Kentucky.
“They stopped running ball screens, which was probably a good idea, because we were just hitting them inside the ball screens and double-teaming them inside the ball screens, so they started running other balls instead. They just started doing that.” They spread the floor and spaced themselves out and attacked us one-on-one,” Pearl said.
“Reaves took over. (Adu) Tierro really stepped up big and outplayed us at his position. If you told me we were going to hold Kentucky to four 3-pointers, I would have thought we were going to hold Kentucky to four 3-pointers. I would say win. So give Kentucky credit for finding other ways to win.
“They had one of their kids (Tre Mitchell) get hurt, but they did a really good job of finding other ways to win.”
In short, he knew the best team would win on Saturday night.
“I’m disappointed in the result, but when someone outplays you and is better than you, hats off to them. That’s why we didn’t win,” Pearl said.
