Fans and family members waited patiently for in the lobby of the Auburn Arena scholarship entrance — waiting for their favorite coaches and players to say hello, take pictures, maybe sign some jerseys or basketballs.
Bruce Pearl had some business to take care of first. Backpacks and street clothes on — ready to head home after an 80-67 win over South Carolina — Samir Doughty and Isaac Okoro were huddled close around their head coach.
"Danjel (Purifoy) isn't going to miss those shots every night," Pearl told them. "We'll shoot better to start. We made the plays.
"You guys made the plays."
Auburn finished off possessions the smart way in a win over the Gamecocks — in a way that it hadn't been doing in back-to-back losses to Alabama and Florida. Pearl was pleased with his team's penetration, confidence and subsequent shot selection and looks back inside Auburn Arena.
"It was the ability of Samir Doughty, J’Von McCormick and Isaac Okoro, through spacing and movement, to be able to get angles to get by their men," Pearl told reporters postgame. "And rather than always getting to the rim, we focused really hard on trying to make the extra pass.
"... Those guys were open in the other games. We just weren’t focused enough on play-making."
Dishing often to freshman Devan Cambridge, who exploded for 26 points, Auburn racked up 17 assists Wednesday — two more than its combined total from its two losses last week. The guards caused breakdowns and got behind the defense. That was nothing new. But once they put themselves in positions to make plays and facilitate, they were collected and poised, capable of scoring off the dribble or with looks from beyond the arc. In two losses last week, their decision-making was not up to Pearl's standards.
"Samir Doughty and J'Von McCormick had much better assist-to-turnover ratios, and really, really between those three play-making guards, it set the tone for our offense," Pearl said.
McCormick and Doughty both scored in double figures for the first time since the SEC opener against Mississippi State. McCormick had 13 points and five dimes, while Doughty scored all 11 of his points late after a scoreless first half — and added four assists of his own.
The offense still wasn't perfect; Purifoy missed all four of his shots, and Doughty missed his first 10. But, as Pearl told his players postgame, the looks were there. And there's also more to a player's production than scoring.
"For me, when he’s play-making and he’s the best defensive guard on the floor with Isaac (Okoro), that’s when he’s really good," Pearl said of Doughty.
Okoro, whom Pearl relies on to facilitate and score from the wing, had seven assists to no turnovers to go with eight points.
"We made a conscious effort of getting [Okoro] the ball in space and letting him go downhill and attack — not just to get to the rim, but to drive, draw and dish," Pearl said.
Pearl heavily credited his assistant coaching staff for cleaning up the backcourt issues earlier this week during what he and Auburn players called the best practices of the year Monday.
"When we were going by people, we weren't play-making enough. We weren't playing off two feet," Pearl said of Auburn's recent struggles at guard. "We worked really hard on it this week. It just so happened that that was exactly what we needed to try to do against South Carolina to beat them.
"I give Ira Bowman a lot of credit for working with our guards on those drills to get our guys to get in the lane and make plays."
No. 16 Auburn (16-2, 4-2 SEC) returns to action for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday morning against Iowa State at 11 a.m. inside Auburn Arena.
"Early tip on Saturday. So my guess is I'll be out there with biscuits and breakfast again," Pearl said. "Maybe this time I'll do bagels."
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