What Bruce Pearl said after Auburn beat Jacksonville State in round one

Coach Bruce Pearl talks to the media after his teams first round win in the NCAA Tourney

© Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Auburn Tigers took care of business Friday vs the Jacksonville State. Despite an early exit the week before in the SEC Tournament, Auburn bounced back to defeat their first round opponent 80-61. With guard play under scrutiny coming into today’s matchup Auburn’s guard stepped up and played an efficient game to help lead the Tigers to the win. After the game Bruce Pearl had this to say.

Opening Statement

I want to congratulate Jacksonville State and Coach Ray Harper from the great state of Alabama for an outstanding season. They're extremely well coached. They were prepared, and you could see how dangerous a team they are because of the way they can shoot it. Auburn's defense was outstanding, and that's been our --that's been what's carried us all season long. That gives us our best chance in a tournament. We stepped up. We played better, as we talked about yesterday. I thought the guys did a terrific job sharing the basketball and making the extra pass and making each other better. We had to play well to beat that team, and we played well.

On how he would guard Jabari Smith if he coached against him

Today it came -- it comes in such rhythm for him. He doesn't force anything. I thought we did a good job rebounding and running without the basketball, and he got some really clean transition looks because of our guys actually sprinting without the ball and opening up the floor.

So that was really key. They pressed us a little bit. Again, that opened up the floor a little bit for our offense. Jabari is ultra-competitive. He wants the ball, but he's not a pig. He's not a hog. It's not about him. It's about us trying to win. He knows he can win it for us. We got 10, and they don't.

On how Auburn closed the first half and opened the second half

Well, I understand why the last four minutes of the first half could be because, obviously, our defense and the way we guarded can take its toll. We talked to our guys about having great effort and energy. The offense had to work really hard to get open. When they were fresh, they were able to make shots. To Jacksonville State's credit, they only turned it over eight times, and they're a hard team to turn over because the ball is always in the guard's hands. They were faster and quicker than we were.

I thought our impacting ball screens, I don't think that anybody's really jumped out and gobbled those guards up in the ball screen like we did, and we made it hard – they got a couple runs at the rim, got the ball to the big guy a couple times, but I thought that was really good. Wes Flanigan, Chad Pruitt, and their team had the scout, and I thought we had an excellent preparation.

On fast break points and making 3 point shots

When you get 31 defensive rebounds and they get 11 offensive rebounds, obviously we're bigger. Our league, the SEC versus the A-Sun, I thought our guys did a good job respecting Jacksonville State's ability. They could have hurt us on the offensive glass, particularly the Henry kid, and we didn't. Because we were able to rebound, we were able to get some transition. I also thought we ran very well without the basketball, and that's why the floor was open, and we got down the floor and had some good spacing.

On Jaylin William injury and availability

Jaylin is going to get some work done today. They're going to have to obviously evaluate him, and he's going to have to go through a concussion protocol because the hit, so we really don't know. He was playing well too, right? Then as far as Jabari, it just na na na, na na na, it's going to be on SportsCenter tonight. Isn't that every kid's dream? He postered him. He really did. And those kids love it. They obviously love that. Like Walker said, you wouldn't be throwing down on me. He kind of said that halfway kidding.