New Auburn coach Steven Pearl gets signature win and proves rebuild is coming together
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Steven Pearl’s signature win came at an unlikely venue and against one of his closest friends.
Pearl and Auburn stunned No. 16 Florida 76-67 on Saturday to notch the program’s first victory in Gainesville since 1996. Pearl had lost all four trips to the O’Connell Center since joining his father’s staff in 2017, and Bruce Pearl was winless in six visits over 11 seasons on the Plains.
“If you look back at Auburn basketball history, that might be the best road win we’ve ever had as a program,” said Steven Pearl, who beat longtime buddy Todd Golden to get it done.
It surely will resonate with the NCAA Tournament selection committee in March. The Tigers ended a 15-game skid in the series, snapped Florida’s 16-game home winning streak, took a huge step forward in their rebuild and provided a blueprint on how to handle the defending national champions.
Auburn packed the paint, forcing the Gators to settle for jump shots and preventing them getting offensive rebounds. It helped that 6-foot-7 forward Keyshawn Hall, a transfer from UCF, was close to unstoppable in the first half. He scored 22 points in the first 20 minutes thanks mostly to three 3-pointers and five free throws.
“When he makes a couple shots, the basket just gets really big for him,” Pearl said. “He kind of carried our offense and gave us the confidence we needed to obviously hang in there.”
Hall and Auburn built a 15-point lead at halftime that the Tigers stretched to 18 early in the second half. It provided enough cushion that they were able withstand Florida’s second-half rally. The Gators tied the game twice in the second half, but Auburn tightened up on the defensive end and pulled away down the stretch.
Florida missed 11 consecutive shots — most of them contested — after tying the game at 56 with 8:09 to play.
“Our guys just responded and did a great job of taking that team’s punch,” Pearl said. “Three weeks ago, our team would have folded and let all that pressure get to us.”
The Tigers (13-7, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) have won three in a row and four of five. Seven losses might look bad on paper, but four of them came in nonconference play against top-10 teams Houston, Michigan, Arizona and Purdue, and the other three came against teams in the top half of the SEC standings.
Still, Auburn traveled to Gainesville as an 11 1/2-point underdog, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. The Tigers left having opened eyes by holding a third consecutive opponent under 70 points.
“In my opinion, it’s been the effort on defense,” said forward KeyShawn Murphy, who finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals. “Like our coaches say, nothing we do works without it. Lately we’ve been putting more effort into everything we do, showing up in practice, just the small details.”
Pearl inherited a retooled roster from his retiring father in late September. Auburn had to replace all five starters from last year’s team, including SEC player of the year Johni Broome, that lost to Florida in the regular season and in the Final Four.
But the NCAA transfer portal offered the Tigers the ability for a quick rebuild. Hall led the Big 12 in scoring last season, and Murphy came from Mississippi State with years of SEC experience. Throw in returning guard Tahaad Pettiford, former Texas Tech forward Kevin Overton and Division II transfer Elyjah Freeman, and Pearl had the pieces.
Getting them to play together has been part of the process, one that appears to be finally coming together.
“It just speaks to our growth as a team, our growth as a staff and our kids’ willingness to stick together and really lock into the details and the things that we’ve been harping on every single day in practice,” Pearl said. “We’ve just continuously gotten better as a group. For us, it’s about what we do from here. … If we let this thing affect us in a way that can distract us from the next one, then it really doesn’t mean anything.”
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