Published Jan 24, 2022
Pearl: 'It's the sum of our parts'
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Christian Clemente  •  AuburnSports
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Bruce Pearl has always liked having a deep team. It's been a consistent theme in his most successful teams – eight, nine or even 10 players contributing and playing meaningful minutes.

Auburn is now up to No. 1 in the AP Poll for the first time in the program's history, and is — at minimum — nine deep. 10 and sometimes 11 players have contributed to the team's success this year.

"I think for us, it's the sum of our parts," Pearl said. "If we're playing nine guys on a regular basis or sometimes 10, you've got to account for all of them."

Wendell Green Jr., Jaylin Williams, Devan Cambridge and Dylan Cardwell all came off the bench on Saturday, making it a nine-deep rotation. That doesn't account for Chris Moore and Stretch Akingbola, who have been part of the rotation at times this year, and Lior Berman who missed the past two games with a foot injury.

"I've always believed in developing your bench," Pearl said. "People can say, 'Well, they've got 10 or 11 good players.' You're damn right we do."

Auburn's four bench players combined for 20 points on Saturday, with Green scoring eight, Williams scoring seven in 10 minutes and Cambridge with a fastbreak dunk to put Auburn up 45-40, ignite the crowd and force a Kentucky timeout.

"Devan Cambridge didn't play quite as much as I wanted him to do the other night against Kentucky, but literally every possession he was in perfect place defensively," Pearl said. "I mean, it was incredible. We pointed that out to the team and rewarded Devan with the praise and the with the recognition."

While Kentucky had three players play over 36 minutes in the game, no one for Auburn played more than 33. Just K.D. Johnson, Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler played more than 30 minutes.

Pearl also praised Akingbola and Moore for the leadership roles the two have taken on as their role in the rotation has diminished. Both are quick to talk in the halftime huddle and are some of the first to jump up off the bench after a big play.

"Stretch is the biggest fan of Walker and Dylan's because he is a man of character — he didn't come to Auburn to sit on the bench, and he played every game for us last year," Pearl said. "But we're already too deep at his position. But he's a team leader.

"Chris is an unbelievable leader. Unbelievably important, and he is supporting our guys. He's staying right and ready. He's practicing really hard every day. Our guys see that. Most guys aren't built that way -- they're too selfish. And so, you point to that."

Auburn's next game is Tuesday at Missouri, with the game set for 7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network.