Sure, Steven Pearl was happy that his team came out with a win against UT-Chattanooga on Saturday in Atlanta, but the Auburn head basketball coach wasn’t exactly thrilled with the Tigers’ performance.
“I'm never going to sit here and complain about a win, happy with the result, but really disappointed in the process,” he said. “I thought we needed three good days of practice this week to get ready for a team that was going to come out and play with their hair on fire. And we didn't get that, I don't think. And that's on us as a coaching staff.”
Every time Auburn started to pull away from the Mocs, turnovers by the Tigers and open baskets for Chattanooga would cut back into the lead. In the end, the score looked better than it was as Auburn pulled away for a 92-78 victory, but the first-year coach is aware of what would have happened against a superior team.
“I told our guys if we play like that, it’s going to be another Arizona or another Michigan on our hands,” Pearl said, talking about the 30-point losses to the Wildcats and Wolverines.
Huge matchup against Purdue waiting for Tigers
That could happen soon if the Tigers don’t improve as they travel to Indianapolis to take on No. 6 Purdue on Saturday.
“Starting tomorrow, what are we doing to get better?” Pearl said. “Are we all going to get treatment tomorrow? I really hope that training room is full of people tomorrow because we’ve got a lot of guys that are dinged-up right now.
“We need to get healthy because we’re not playing to our potential, because we’re using these injuries as an excuse … There’s no school this week. There’s no outside distractions. It’s just basketball for the next couple weeks. So we’ve got to take full advantage of that.”