Bruce Pearl met with the media after Saturday’s 32-point loss at Kentucky, admitting that it’s embarrassing to get smacked around like that.
Pearl praised Kentucky, saying the Wildcats are really comfortable in their roles.
“They are literally bigger and stronger at every position,” Pearl said. “And their physicality, we were no match for. So, they’re playing really well together.”
Check out his comments:
Opening Statement…
“When I was at Southern Indiana coaching the Screaming Eagles for nine years, the two or three
teams that mattered the most on our schedule were Kentucky Wesleyan in Owensboro, Northern
Kentucky in Covington, Bellermine and Louisville, because we took great pride in our basketball in
Indiana, and y’all take great pride in your basketball in Kentucky. I’ve come in here before and got
smacked like that, and its embarrassing. Because you know good basketball, and you know really bad
basketball. We were ready to play. You could tell early we had a really good game plan, and then with
about three or four minutes left to go in the first half, things just started to unravel a bit. And then our
guys just didn’t stay together. You can’t have one assist in the first half, and you’ve got to kind of just
work together offensively to make each other better, and we just didn’t. And of course , the same
thing happened on the defensive end as well. So, Auburn was not competitive at all today.”
On how different Kentucky looks compared to earlier in the season…
“They’re obviously really comfortable in their roles. Cason Wallace is a difference maker around the
point with his ability to defend, play make and finish shots. The Reeves kid is obviously a great shooter
and an older player. Tshiebwe is playing dominant on the inside. We thought we could score on him a
little bit and hurt him a little bit in the ball screen, but he did a nice job there. He and Toppin are just
physically imposing out there. And then their wings are just so big. They are literally bigger and
stronger at every position. And their physicality, we were no match for. So, they’re playing really well
together.”
On what changed in the second half…
“I think that for the first 15 minutes, I thought we played pretty well defensively. Transition hurt us in
the last four minutes, and then the entire second half. I thought one of the keys was their guards
being able to get down hill. We couldn’t stay in front of them. And I thought that was the difference.”
