At times last fall, Auburn appeared unstoppable on the gridiron. It would be easy to make the case that no team was better at home in 2017 than the Tigers.

The success of the football program has apparently rubbed off on Bruce Pearl’s team, as the Auburn Tigers stand alone atop the SEC standings in 2018 after yet another big win on the court this week. Following Auburn’s 76-66 home win over Kentucky, Pearl gave a shout-out to Gus Malzahn’s program for helping to inspire the basketball team’s success on the hardwood.

Here’s what Pearl said Thursday, according to Josh Vitale of AUNow:

“In the fall, our guys paid very close attention to our football team,” Pearl said. “Not just the winning. But their energy, their emotion, their passion, some of the incredible scenes in the locker room with those guys just dancing and celebrating, and you could see there was something special about that group. We talked about it, and I’d like to think, in some ways, we’re emulating it.”

Much like the football team, Auburn’s basketball team is closing in on a regular season title in league play. For Pearl’s sake, he should hope his team also learned that what you do in the postseason is what really matters. While Malzahn’s program failed to finish the deal, Pearl and his red-hot team are poised to make some serious noise as the college basketball season inches closer to the do-or-die tournament season.