AUBURN, Ala. – His first two head coaching opportunities influenced Bruce Pearl's philosophy when it comes to big-time schools playing on the road against smaller schools.
Next Game:
at Appalachian State
Dec. 3, 2023
Noon CT
TV: ESPN2
Radio: Auburn Sports Network
In nine seasons at Southern Indiana, none of the state's big boys wanted to risk losing to Pearl's D-II powerhouse.
"I just couldn't get a game," Pearl recalled. "We were good and nobody in Indiana would play us."
Earlier in his career, as an assistant at Iowa under Tom Davis, the Hawkeyes played at Northern Iowa, giving Pearl his first look at what such a matchup could mean for both sides.
In his next head coaching job at Milwaukee, Pearl inherited a home game against the state's flagship program, the Big Ten's Wisconsin's Badgers.
"And I really appreciated that," Pearl said. "I said if I ever get my opportunity to be a head coach at the high-major level I'm going to do it."
Keeping his promise, Pearl has taken his Auburn teams on the road to play mid-majors. A series with Murray State afforded Auburn fans the opportunity to see future NBA superstar Ja Morant at Neville Arena, while the Tigers survived a snowstorm in Murray, Kentucky, and brought home a close win against the Racers. A trip to Mobile yielded an Isaac Okoro buzzer beater and another Auburn victory.
That's why the Tigers are hitting the road for Boone, North Carolina, to play at Appalachian State.
"They're picked second in the Sun Belt behind No. 25 James Madison," Pearl said, previewing Sunday's showdown. "They're a good team. They've got high-major size, they've got high-major athletes. They're really well coached."
Pearl hopes an additional benefit to playing at Appalachian State will occur Jan. 6 when Auburn opens SEC play at Arkansas.
"That's the reason why we scheduled it, to have that test at that environment," he said. "They'll be jacked up, and we've got to be able to handle their elevated play and at the same time not let the environment disrupt our play.
"We've got a great example of it here at Neville Arena because we understand what the best home-court advantage in college basketball feels like and looks like."
Seeking their sixth consecutive win, the Tigers (5-1) and Mountaineers (5-2) tip off at noon CT Sunday on ESPN2 and the Auburn Sports Network.
PLAYER TO WATCH: CHAD BAKER-MAZARA
Junior combo guard/forward Chad Baker-Mazara scored a season-high 15 points on 5-of-10 field goals and added four rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block to close out the month of November with a 74-57 victory over Virginia Tech at Neville Arena. For the first time this season, he reached double figures in the first half alone (11 of his 15 points).
Coming off the bench this season, Baker-Mazara – who came to The Plains by way of Northwest Florida State College, San Diego State and Duquesne – is tied as the team's third-leading scorer with 8.5 points per game and leads the team with seven steals.
INSIDE THE SERIES: APPALACHIAN STATE
Auburn is 2-0 all-time against Appalachian State with a pair of home victories over the Mountaineers. The Tigers defeated Appalachian State, 84-61, on Nov. 29, 1976, at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum and 67-53 on Dec. 22, 2020, at Neville Arena under Coach Pearl.
This is part of a 2-for-1 series with App State that began in 2020-21.
TIGERS ON THE NATIONAL SCENE
Auburn currently ranks 15th nationally in assists per game (18.7, second in SEC), fifth in bench points per game (37.0, first in SEC), ninth in blocked shots per game (6.3, third in SEC), 12th in field-goal percentage defense (36.5%, second in SEC) and fifth in three-point field-goal percentage defense (23.7%, first in SEC).
SIDEBARS
Freshman point guard Aden Holloway, Auburn's sixth McDonald's All-American in program history, returns home to the Tar Heel State this weekend. The Charlotte native started off his high school career at Covenant Day School in Matthews, North Carolina, prior to playing at La Lumiere School (Indiana) and Prolific Prep (California).
Appalachian State is Auburn's first contest against a current member of the Sun Belt Conference since the Tigers defeated Georgia State, 72-64, in Neville Arena on Dec. 14, 2022. Auburn is 67-15 (.817) lifetime against Sun Belt opponents.
Auburn committed only eight turnovers versus Virginia Tech on Wednesday night. It was the fewest turnovers for the Tigers since they had eight turnovers against Houston in the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament. Auburn has posted single-digit turnovers 70 times under head coach Bruce Pearl and has a 50-20 record in those games.