What Bruce Pearl said after beating Texas A&M at home

Here is everything Bruce Pearl had to say following Auburn basketball's win over Texas A&M.

The #1 Auburn Tigers took on Texas A&M basketball at home coming off of a close loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks. Bruce Pearl and his squad came away with a huge 75-58 win, holding the Aggies to 27% shooting from the field and an abysmal 13.6% from beyond the arc. The Aggies shot just 3-of-22 from deep and virtually had not shot against a stifling Auburn Defense. After the game Bruce Pearl had this to say about his team’s Performance.

Opening Statement

I can’t being to express how appreciate I am of all our volunteers. Our AUTlive foundation team and family have worked so hard to make a difference. We’re going to continue to raise funds to get it in the hands of the people who are battling cancer and need the funds to pay the bills. We got 86 guys screened and 1 of 9 are going to find out they have prostate cancer. Hopefully the catch it in stage 1 or 2 early so they have a better chance of beating it.

Our team played really hard today in front of national television audience. They played really good defense. We didn’t make as many shot to get to a point where we feel special like we’re special. Walker Kessler had his second triple double and he’s one of the most dominant players in college basketball. How could you think you’d say that a year ago?

On what the key to the defense was

Steven Pearl and his team did a really good job with the scout. Our guys were really locked in and we t did a great job guarding them in the half court but we still struggled to guard in transition. Obviously having Zep back pressuring the ball picks everyone else up. If you’re not play hard you’re going to look like you’re standing in mud standing next to him. Also having Jabari and Walker in the back makes a huge difference.

On assessing the mental rebound from the loss

The way we guarded and the amount of energy and effort we put forth and the effectiveness of that was a positive sign. We still struggled in our transition defense and that’s something that we will continue to work on. If we can continue to grow in that area it will really help us. Our out of bounds defense was much better tonight to. We were able to turn those guys over pretty good.

On Jaylin Williams getting rebounds of the bench

Jaylin played really well. Having 11 rebounds made him more engaged in the game. I got on him early in the game when he missed a couple of rebounds. When he picked up his physicality it really helped us.

On what it meant to have Bryan Harsin at the game

It was awesome. The jungle was incredible, and the student responded. I’m really happy for Coach Harsin his family and his staff. Our student athletes and our coaches stay together. I look forward to working with Coach Harsin and his whole team to continue to make Auburn the everything school it is. It’s good to het that behind us.

On Allen Flannigan’s Performance

It was great. He got to the foul line he rebounded the ball better and he didn’t have a turnover. He played with purpose and I’m really happy for him. I know his teammates are happy for him too.

On slow starts offensively

We’re missing a lot of shot and that’s a big issue for us. You look at our percentages from three and most of them are open shots. We need get to knocking them down I think it’s next thing we have to do to be a really good team.