SEC report
Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers have developed into the top story in the SEC. The Tigers (16-1, 4-0 SEC), who advanced to No. 17 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Monday, extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 14 games by rallying for a 76-68 victory at Mississippi State on Saturday.
FAYETTEVILLE — Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers have developed into the top story in the SEC.
The Tigers (16-1, 4-0 SEC), who advanced to No. 17 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Monday, extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 14 games by rallying for a 76-68 victory at Mississippi State on Saturday.
Auburn trailed by as many as 12 points and rebounded from a 3524 deficit at halftime to claim its second SEC road victory after a 94-84 decision at Tennessee in its conference opener.
Pearl, in his fourth season, is trying to keep his team from getting caught up in the hype of the winning streak, Auburn’s longest since 2000.
“For me, it’s just we’ve got Alabama on Wednesday,” Pearl said on Saturday in Starkville, Miss. “We’ve got to get better to be able to win this league. We have 14 games left. We could win them all, we could lose them all. Where we are right now is fine … but we’re taking them one at a time. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low.”
Pearl said last year’s club didn’t finish possessions or games with enough toughness and “as a result we won 18 games instead of 22 and didn’t make the postseason. We had to sit and suck on that all year, all offseason, and it didn’t taste very well.”
The Tigers returned seven players from last season, a high under Pearl, and the veterans have made a stronger commitment to team play, Pearl said.
“Their will to win is greater and their sacrifice is greater,” he said. “They’re holding each other accountable. Like, you can coach them hard and they, for the most part, listen. And they can get after each other without being sensitive.”
Pearl referenced the SEC’s “It just means more” slogan when talking about having two buses of fans traveling to Starkville for the road game.
“I admire and marvel at SEC football and the camaraderie of the visiting team and the home team and the tailgating traditions,” he said. “It just means more.
“Why not in basketball? It made for a better crowd. We should travel. Kentucky travels. When you play Kentucky, there’s a ton of blue in the house. That’s one of the next steps in the development of the program.”