Steven Pearl Calls Out Auburn's Defense After Loss to Alabama

Auburn Tigers head coach Steven Pearl was not happy with his team's late defensive effort.

Auburn Tigers head coach Steven Pearl was not happy with his team's late defensive effort. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Auburn Tigers (14-9) fell at home to the Alabama Crimson Tide (16-7), 96-92, on Saturday afternoon in Neville Arena. The Tigers started the game playing great defense, up until the final two minutes of the first half, which then carried over into the second half of the matchup, and Auburn was never able to recover.

“(The) First 18 minutes, we did a great job defending them and did a lot of things that we wanted them to do,” Auburn head coach Steven Pearl said. 

“I thought those last two minutes of the first half, when we gave up three threes, was a huge momentum swing in the game because it gave them the confidence that they needed to know that they could knock down those shots. It carried over to the second half.”

Prior to those final two minutes of the second half, Auburn held Alabama to 32 points. Holding the Crimson Tide offense to only 32 points is something that not many teams are able to do, especially since they have the SEC’s leading scorer in Labaron Philon Jr. 

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However, things began to fall apart defensively for the Tigers, and it never improved for the rest of the matchup. The Auburn defense took a backseat, and their offense was also affected by the defensive mishaps. 

“We've got to have way more pride in being able to sit down and guard our man. The guy on my right (Sebastian Williams-Adams) is really the only one that does that at a high, high level every single night. Everyone else is capable of doing it, but we have to be able to do it more consistently, and if a freshman can do it every single possession, then I need my better players to be able to do the same thing.”  

Auburn led by as much as 10 in the game, but gave up runs of 11-0 and 8-0 in the second half. Alabama took the lead near the 10-minute mark in the second half and never lost the lead after that. 

For Auburn, the Tigers will have to break down the film and quickly move past Saturday’s loss. The Tigers will be right back on the court on Tuesday evening to take on No. 15 Vanderbilt. Tip-off in that matchup is set for 6 p.m. CST.