Auburn basketball: Bruce Pearl got what he wanted in close USF win

While you could have been confused about whether or not they were really the away team or actually the home team based on the Amalie Arena’s crowd reactions on Friday night, Auburn basketball picked up its first road win of the season in come-from-behind fashion after two comfortable wins in their first two games of the season at the Auburn Arena.

It all went according to plan for Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl.

Pearl needed a push for the opposition after winning the opening contests of 2021-22 by a combined 51 points. He got that from a Bulls squad that actually led by seven at halftime–and as many as 15 at different points in the first half–despite being a 14-point underdog.

Pearl forecasted USF exposing AU’s flaws as a young squad looking to gel:

"“There’s a combination of learning, for sure, but then opportunity,” Pearl said. “They’re keeping score, and like playing at South Florida, when you beat a good team on their home floor in their town, that’s worth the same as beating a great team at home because you get extra points for being on the road. So that’s part of the reason why there’s an incentive to do this. I know we’ll learn a lot. Probably more than anything, we’re going to get exposed more than ever. Good teams are able to expose us.”"

In particular, Wendell Green Jr. and Jabari Smith were exposed as not quite ready to be the two scoring leaders for the Tigers on a consistent basis. Green was held scoreless and missed all eight of his shot attempts, while Smith was 3/12 overall from the field and forced several one-legged step-back bricks.

Luckily, transfers KD Johnson and Zep Jasper carried the scoring load with 28 of the 58 points scored by Auburn basketball on Friday night.

This test was passed, but a much stiffer challenge, a  ranked and undefeated UCONN, awaits in The Bahamas at the Battle 4 Atlantis this week.