Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl recaps March Madness win over Michigan

[ad_1]

Pearl covered many topics from the team’s strong second-half performance to Tahaad Pettiford’s impressive statline.

The Auburn Tigers earned a trip to the Elite Eight on Friday night by defeating Michigan, 78-65, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

Auburn led 30-29 at halftime and was met with adversity over the early stages of the second half as Michigan jumped out to a nine-point lead with 12:26 to go in the game. Auburn freshman Tahaad Pettiford hit a three-pointer at the 12:11 mark in the second half to kickstart a 39-17 run that carried the Tigers to the 13-point victory.

Auburn shot a measly 39% from the field in the win, but its 47% second-half shooting was enough to create separation from the Wolverines. Pettiford ended the game with 20 points, which tied Denver Jones for the second-highest scoring output of the game behind Johni Broome’s 22-point, 16-rebound effort.

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl broke down the game with the media following Friday’s win. Here is a recap of everything Pearl said after Auburn’s Sweet 16 win over Michigan.

The opening statement

“First of all, I’d like to congratulate Michigan, the Big Ten tournament champions, on an outstanding year. What an incredible first year for that staff to come in and turn that program around. They were playing really well coming into this tournament, having won the Big Ten tournament. Obviously we went on a 34-8 run in the second half, and it’s just the kids’ will to win. They just locked down defensively. I thought Dylan Cardwell did an incredible job on (Vladislav) Goldin. I thought Johni, Dylan, Chaney were physical with those guys and didn’t let them dominate the game with their size, which they do against most opponents. Then a couple of guards got really hot. They got really heated up. Denver got heated up. Tahaad got heated up. We went to them, and they delivered. Great win for Auburn. Four teams from the SEC in the Elite 8. That’s pretty good.”

Joking with Johni

BRUCE PEARL: Wait a second. You had a…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://auburnwire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/auburn/mens-basketball/2025/03/29/auburn-basketball-bruce-pearl-quotes-michigan-march-madness/82716263007/

Author :

Publish date : 2025-03-29 13:01:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.