Steven Pearl on Tennessee being more physical than Auburn: ‘They punked us’
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Tennessee led wire-to-wire in a 77-69 statement win over Auburn on Saturday night, and the Volunteers dominated the visiting Tigers in nearly every statistical category.
First-year Auburn head coach Steven Pearl took note of that, and he applauded Tennessee‘s efforts and credited them for throwing a wrench in most things his team tried to accomplish throughout the evening.
“Credit to Tennessee, they beat us at our game. They pushed us around, punked us, got to the foul line 11 more times than we did. They did a really good job of attacking the paint,” Pearl said. “They hit four early threes and didn’t continue to settle for threes like we did. They just continued to attack the rim. They out-physical-ed us and kind of had their way. A lot of the things that disrupted us were a credit to them.”
And the stats back up Pearl’s claims.
Tennessee out-rebounded Auburn by 16 (46-30), accounted for 34 points in the paint and drew 23 fouls on the Tigers. That led to the note that Pearl pointed out, as the Vols shot 25 free throws to Auburn’s 14.
After seeing a 4-game win streak snapped, Pearl & Co. will look to start a new hot stretch when they welcome arch rivals Alabama for a pivotal clash next Saturday.
Parker is currently the sports editor for the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
