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Bruce Pearl discusses Auburn’s defensive struggles: ‘We lack some quickness’
By Adam Spencer
Published:
The Auburn Tigers are in the midst of a 3-game losing streak, during which they’ve allowed at least 84 points in each game.
Obviously, that points to some defensive struggles, and coach Bruce Pearl is searching for answers.
On Monday, Pearl cited a lack of quickness in the back court as a big reason for the defensive letdowns (via Rivals.com):
“We’re so challenged defensively that there is lots of room to improve,” Pearl said. “How much this team will improve between now and the end of the year? I can tell you the schedule gets tougher.
“We lack some quickness. That would be just from a personnel standpoint. We’ve got big long guards. But our guards have been lined up pretty good. And part of it is just a quickness factor. In the sense that Javon (McCormick), Samir (Doughty), Isaac (Okoro) were all quicker defensively than any of our five guards out of Sharife (Cooper), Jamal (Johnson), Devin (Cambridge), Al (Flanigan) and Chris (Moore).
“Obviously, the potential’s there, but I mean that’s our biggest challenge. Guys are playing hard. We just, the quickness, keeping people in front, has been our biggest challenge.”
Auburn plays at Vanderbilt and at Kentucky this week. We’ll see if they can turn things around or if the defensive woes continue.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
