Auburn basketball head coach Bruce Pearl discusses his team's victory over Kent State
The Auburn Tigers earned a sound victory over their third opponent of the season on Wednesday, beating Kent State in Auburn Arena 79-56. The Tigers' leading scorers were Johni Broome and Chaney Johnson, who both scored 18 points, followed by Chad Baker-Mazara and Denver Jones, who scored 12 points each.
Though the Tigers hit only 6 of 24 attempted three-point shots, they shot 49.1 percent from the field and hit 17 of 22 free throws. Below are quotes of note from head coach Bruce Pearl after the Tigers' third consecutive win of the season.
On the defense, per Auburn Undercover:
"I think the way we guard, I tell you what, in the first half, we guarded great. And for a while, we stayed out of foul trouble. In the second half, we really didn't foul. And so, I was pleased with that. I think what we run is hard to guard, and we have to cover ourselves in the summer and the fall. I think the way we've built our defense really bothers people. It bothers me when we're playing against ourselves. And the kids believe in it. It'll travel. Gave up too many offensive rebounds, too many second-chance points. Passed on some physical plays."
On the three-point attempts, per AL.com:
"Yeah, out of the 24 3’s that we took, I thought only two or three of them weren’t good shots. And so, look, you’ve got to make shots to win. And so the fact that we were still able to score 79, we got the ball inside, and Chaney and Johni finished at a very high—you know, Johni’s 8-for-12 and Chaney’s 8-for-11. That’s just tremendous."
On Chaney Johnson's performance, per Auburn Undercover:
"Chaney's our hardest worker. He is our hardest worker. He's in the gym all the time. Of course, he's a great student-athlete. He'll be graduating shortly. Chaney likes to work out. And so Ira Bowman is in the gym with him every day, and just getting better. He doesn't know any better. And I think, the thing, his confidence is up. His teammates believe in him. He can sit down and guard, and you know what? You better bring it strong to the rim, because he's a freak show."
Auburn basketball returns to action on Monday when the Tigers host North Alabama in Neville Arena.