Bruce Pearl wants to 'learn and grow' in last tuneup before Maui
AUBURN — Bruce Pearl called the final 10 minutes of Auburn's victory over Washington "a missed opportunity." He's hoping for some redemption Wednesday night.
By that point, as Pearl readily admitted, the game was out of reach. Auburn was well in position to pull off the 22-point win in the top-25 matchup. The problem, he said, is his players realized it, as well, which prevented them from using the last quarter (or so) of the Washington win to their fullest potential.
Pearl brought it up, of course, because he knows Auburn has 40 minutes coming up against Division-II program Mississippi College. It will be the Tigers' last on-court experience against another team prior to the Maui Invitational.
Pearl said it's important the team approaches it the right way.
"I would say the last, let’s say, 10 minutes of the Washington game was a missed opportunity for us to continue to work. And as a result the play was a little sloppy and not as effective. Sometimes you play the score. So that was a missed opportunity," Pearl said. "We don’t want to do that tomorrow. If it happens, it happens. You want to play hard, unselfishly, and you want to continue to learn. That’s the biggest thing, is just continue to learn and grow."
Auburn's matchup with Mississippi College came to be as a result of the Maui Invitational.
When the Tigers accepted the bid to the non-exempt invitational, it opened an extra game to fill on the regular-season schedule. Pearl searched across the country for Division-I teams to face early in the season. The only willing teams with open dates he could find were programs with RPIs "in the 300s."
Even wins against squads of that lower caliber can hurt a team's own RPI. College basketball coaches are quite conscious of those rankings because of how integral they are to NCAA tournament bids.
Thus, Pearl landed on a Division-II program, which doesn't help RPI. But it can only hurt RPI in a loss.
"So sometimes, and you see it across the country, you're better off playing a Division-II team that does not figure into your RPI. It won't count toward our NCAA tournament resume, unless you lose the game," Pearl said. "If you lose the game, it'll count against you. If you win the game, it will not count for you. But, a win over a very high RPI Division-I team hurts you. That's the reason why we were scheduling this Division-II opponent."
Pearl anticipates Mississippi College to present some interesting defensive matchups for Auburn.
The Choctaws have averaged 90.5 points per game in their two matchups so far this season. As to be expected from a Division-II program, Pearl sees a bit of a size mismatch between Auburn's growing front court and the undersized Mississippi College side.
"They'll score. They've got four guys in double figures that average 90 points a game. But, obviously, they'll be undersized. It'll be an opportunity to continue to try to grow and execute and learn," Pearl said. "It’s very important for us to have another experience (before the Maui Invitational)."
Auburn and Mississippi College will face off in Auburn Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT.