After winning its most recent home game against South Carolina, Auburn basketball is now 11-7 overall and 2-3 in SEC play.
Auburn is still without a victory in genuine road games this season as the Tigers head to Ole Miss for their sixth conference game.
In December, the Tigers lost to Arizona handily. After that, they lost their first two SEC away games at Missouri and Georgia.
“Yeah, I mean, I’m constantly trying to figure out whether we should be doing different things at home and while traveling. As a coach, you’re constantly trying to figure that out. However, I believe that we just failed to defend in the Georgia game. We didn’t defend, but we did a great job attacking. Auburn coach Steven Pearl remarked on Monday afternoon, “I think we defended, but we didn’t execute offensively.
Therefore, we need to strike a balance between executing and defending. They’re incredibly talented, so I believe that if we simply pay attention to what we’re talking about, we’ll be successful. However, Pearl continued, “I believe there are things we can do that can bother them, and we have to do the necessary things that they’re really good at to not let it bother us.”
Georgia won 104-100 in overtime with a 52% shooting percentage and 11 three-pointers. Auburn’s problems persisted at Missouri, as the Tigers lost by 10 points despite shooting just 29% from three-point range.
Beyond the statistics, Pearl also admitted that his squad cannot be lacking in energy, which he claimed they were after the defeat at Missouri.
Pearl stated, “We need to find a way to change something on the road, but you don’t want to change up your routine too much.” As a result, we are investigating potential changes to our preparedness. However, I believe that for us, it’s more crucial to consider what we did and did not do well in the two prior SEC games and how we were able to avoid those things.
“We simply need to be the most enthusiastic team to play.” Pearl continued, “If we do that, it clears up a lot of the stuff, a lot of the silly mistakes that we may have made in those first two SEC road games.”
At 8 p.m. CT on ESPNU, Auburn and Ole Miss (11-7, 3-2) will face off.
