Bruce Pearl doesn’t usually look forward to playing Buzz Williams and Texas A&M because of how physical the Aggies play.

It all starts with Williams. The defense the team plays can cause a number of problems, especially since it’s hard to tell what the Aggies are playing. Pearl explained that most plays won’t work against the Texas A&M defense.

“I think one of those things that makes Texas A&M so successful obviously is their coach. Nobody else in the league plays quite like they do, especially on the defensive end. With the 1-2-2 press, they can kind of ratchet it up versus us. They just sort of contain it, which slowed our break down,” said Pearl. “Then they disguise pretty well whether they’re in man or zone, so it’s hard to play call against. They switch all the time. It basically cuts 75% of your playbook completely out.”

Pearl had a proud father moment, crediting his son for doing some great scouting of Texas A&M. Pearl then praised the defense of Auburn’s guards, who shut down one of the better Texas A&M players in Wade Taylor IV. The Auburn coach challenged his team to play more complimentary, which he believes will lead to consistent wins.

“Steven Pearl had to scout and did an outstanding job. When you hold a team in this league to 55 points, 39% shooting,” said Pearl. “I challenge my guards. Wade Taylor, he was the Preseason SEC Player of the Year, he was 2-for-16 and 0-8 from 3. I thought our guards did a tremendous job, defensively. If we can continue to guard and get a little offense from our defense, that’s gonna be the key to consistently winning each night.”

The Aggies couldn’t get much going against Auburn. On top of Taylor having a bad night, Texas A&M shot 29% from the floor and 15.8% from 3-point range. Both teams hit more than 80% of their free throws, however.

Jaylin Williams led the Tigers in scoring with 22 points, followed by KD Johnson with 14 points and Johni Broome with 10 points. The Tigers out rebounded the Aggies defensively 26-25, but offensive rebounds were an issue. Texas A&M had 19 rebounds on offense compared to Auburn’s 8.

After a rough night of shooting for both teams, Auburn pulled away to earn the 66-55 win, which made it 8 straight victories. Neville Arena will be where Auburn plays its next game. LSU comes to town on Saturday with tipoff set for 6 p.m. ET on SEC Network.