Bruce Pearl Sends Strong Message After Auburn’s Late-Season Losses Ahead of SEC Tournament
With the Auburn Tigers wrapping up their regular season, head coach Bruce Pearl made it clear that despite recent setbacks, his team remains hungry and motivated heading into the SEC Tournament.
Pearl Addresses Auburn’s Recent Struggles on The Paul Finebaum Show
Ahead of the conference tournament in Nashville, Pearl appeared on *The Paul Finebaum Show to discuss Auburn’s mindset. The Tigers find themselves in an unusual position after dropping their final two games of the regular season—marking half of their total losses this year.
While the frustration is evident, Pearl views the situation as an opportunity to reignite his team’s competitive edge.
*”Look, we’re hungry. We’ve lost our last two games… We’ve only lost to teams that are good enough to win national championships,”* Pearl said. *”But we have lost the last two games. We’re not happy about it. We’re a little pissed off about it, and I hope that carries us through the tournament. Sometimes when you’re a little pissed off, you play with an edge.”*
Auburn’s Impressive Season, Despite Late Losses
The Tigers concluded the regular season with a 27-4 overall record and a 15-3 record in SEC play, narrowly edging out Florida for the regular-season conference championship. Although they clinched the title over a week ago, the Gators remained close behind, finishing just one game back.
Auburn had spent eight consecutive weeks as the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 rankings, but their two late-season losses resulted in a drop to No. 3. The teams now ranked ahead of them are Duke—which defeated Auburn earlier in the season—and Houston.
SEC Tournament Outlook and Auburn’s Path Forward
Despite the recent setbacks, Auburn remains in a strong position heading into the SEC Tournament As the No. 1 seed, the Tigers have earned a bye to the quarterfinals and will begin their tournament campaign on Friday at noon CDT.
Their potential quarterfinal opponents include:
– No. 8 seed Ole Miss
– No. 9 seed Arkansas
– No. 16 seed South Carolina
Even with the late-season losses, Auburn’s NCAA Tournament projections remain unchanged. As of early Tuesday morning, the Tigers are still projected as a top seed and would begin tournament play in Lexington, Kentucky, within the South Region (Atlanta site)
With Pearl emphasizing his team’s renewed intensity, Auburn will look to use their recent frustrations as fuel for a strong postseason push
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