Pearl wary of trap game

AUBURN | It’s a trap.

That’s how Bruce Pearl views Auburn’s game against UNC Asheville Wednesday night, which comes four days after a blowout 104-76 win over Indiana and four days before a visit from a talented USC team.

Two weeks ago, the Tigers followed up an impressive win over Virginia Tech with a frustrating loss at Appalachian State.

“This is a trap game,” said Pearl, Auburn’s 10th-year head coach. “Feels a lot like the Appy State game, having just beaten a really good Virginia Tech team. Then we go to App State and the next one is Indiana. We just beat a really good Indiana team, we go play Asheville in Huntsville then Southern Cal coming in Sunday.

“We’ve talked to the team about it. We lost at App State not because we weren’t prepared, not because we weren’t ready. We got outplayed.”

The Bulldogs, which enter the game with a 5-5 record, are led by fifth-year senior Drew Pember, who averages 18.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.8 blocks per game. The 6-foot-11 forward shoots .500 from the floor, .395 from 3-point range and .813 from the free throw line.

“He's probably the most versatile big we're going to play all season,” said senior center Dylan Cardwell. “It's kinda hard to prepare for a 6-11 guard. But we're excited for the matchup. I just feel like the determining factor is our physicality and making sure that he's not comfortable.

“That's kinda what has bothered the bigs that we've played in the past. If we're the more physical bigs, we end up winning the matchup. Hopefully we can continue that and make sure we're the more physical team.”

The game is in Huntsville where Auburn hasn’t played since an 87-52 win over Alabama A&M in 2009. It’ll be the sixth different city in AU’s first nine games.

“I’ve been trying to get there to reward our fanbase up there. And I hope we play well enough to reward them,” said Pearl.

Tip-off at the Von Braun Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT on SECN+/ESPN+.