Fly War Eagle
Fansided

Auburn Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl: We’re Not Good Enough For Me to Have to Coach Effort

By Nicholas Ian Allen

facebooktwitterreddit

The Bruce Pearl Era of Auburn basketball is off to a good start.

Interest and enthusiasm are at an all-time high. The Tigers have a talented and experienced roster that, once at full strength, completed a sweep of a five-game homestand to close out non-conference play, which provided the team with valuable momentum into Tuesday’s Southeastern Conference opener on the road against Vanderbilt.

Dec 29, 2014; Auburn, AL, USA; Auburn Tigers guard Malcolm Canada (00) takes a pass against the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders during the second half at Auburn Arena. The Tigers beat the Blue Raiders 64-48. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Saturday’s 82-61 victory over North Alabama pushed Auburn’s record to 8-5 entering conference play – a respectable mark given the fact that ten of the thirteen opponents played in the post-season in 2013-14. However, the effort the Tigers gave against the Lions was not up to Pearl’s standards.

“We’re not good enough for me to have to coach effort, and tonight I had to,” Pearl said. “That’s something that we have to address.”

Maybe it was the 12PM start after playing the vast majority of previous games in prime time. Maybe it was the half empty Auburn Arena after playing before some of the most energized crowds in recent memory. Maybe it was the Division II opponent after playing seven team that were in the NCAA Tournament last season.

Whatever it was, it was obvious the energy and effort just wasn’t there for the Tigers in the first half.

UNA jumped out to a 6-0 lead and held Auburn scoreless for the first three minutes of the game. Before a full five minutes ticked off the clock, the Tigers fell behind 11-3.

At that point, Malcolm Canada – a player that always gives maximum effort – drove to the basket, and with no regard for his own bodily well being (as usual), scored and drew a foul.

“Okay,” many Auburn basketball fans thought. “Finally, a little energy.”

It took nearly ten more minutes for the Tigers to take the lead for the first time, and they led by just two points at halftime before pulling away in the second half.

When glancing at the final score and even digging into the box score, it looks like Auburn did what they were supposed to do: the Tigers beat a less talented opponent by 21 points, earned their fifth win in a row, and can now look ahead to SEC play with a great deal of positive momentum behind them.

But that’s not good enough for Pearl, and if this team is to reach its potential this season, it won’t be good enough next week, or in February, or March.

More from Auburn Basketball

K.T. Harrell and Antoine Mason have the ability to score with the best in the nation. Cinmeon Bowers is a rebounding machine that offers great size in the post. K.C. Ross-Miller and Tahj Shamsid-Deen (who did not play against UNA while resting his nagging shoulder injury) can run the offense.

Jordon Granger and Malcolm Canada have improved tremendously since 2013-14. 7-foot-2 freshman center Trayvon Reed has as much upside as anyone in the country and Alex Thompson has helped provide much needed depth.

There’s talent and experience on the roster. However, as Pearl points out, this team isn’t good enough to play like they did Saturday and expect to win much in the SEC.

And a coach shouldn’t have to motivate players to play hard. Thinking of a couple of coaching maxims, it takes no talent to give great effort and hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

Bruce Pearl is a great coach, motivator and recruiter. With him at the helm, the Auburn basketball program is on the rise.

This team has enough talent to compete in the SEC and to reach the post-season, but not enough to sacrifice effort.

Next: Football: The Three Most Important Recruits of 2015

More from Fly War Eagle

Home/Auburn Basketball