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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: SAN DIEGOMarch 17, 2018Bruce PearlSan Diego, California THE MODERATOR: We will begin with Auburn head coach, Bruce Pearl. BRUCE PEARL: We're glad to still be in it. I don't know how many teams are left. I know as of last night there were 32 and I think there are probably only, what, 30 or so left. We're still alive. Sort of been the story of our season all year long. These kids have kept finding a way, you know, for us last night, turning College of Charleston over 21 times when they arch, like, 9. Davion Mitchell, a freshman, playing 19 minutes in the first half because Jared Harper has two fouls. He led the defensive charge for us. He disrupted the game with his ability to guard and we all sorta picked up on that and it's a good thing because offensively we were crippled. We didn't execute. We didn't shoot it very well. We had some pretty good looks. We didn't take advantage of it, but I give College of Charleston credit. We're going to have to play a lot better to be able to challenge Clemson tomorrow. Q. Bruce, the free throw shooting last night was 15 out of 32. Is there any way to know why something like that happens? Is there anything you can do to make sure it doesn't become a mental block going forward? BRUCE PEARL: I don't think it will. I think we will be fine. What's the explanation? Sometimes if you're in a dome and the shooting background is different and the depth perception is a factor, sometimes in a dome and I've been there, I've played some games in convention halls where they wheeled some baskets in and the rims are tight. These rims aren't tight. It's a college venue, and they've got nice rims. So there be isn't a reason than either lack of focus or jitters, being a little tight. We've been a great free throw shooting team all year long and I'm sure we'll do a better job tomorrow. Q. Bruce, six of the last eight games you guys have shot less than 40%. That's not how your season was going. How do you improve shooting from the field? BRUCE PEARL: You know, when you run as much ball screen spread as we do, the defense determines who is going to be open. They're not going to have Bryce Brown open and they are not going to have Mustapha Heron open. They're probably going to guard our guards. So guys like Desean Murray or Chuma Okeke or Horace Spencer, those guys are getting open more in our ball screen spread stuff. So their ability to make those shots or take advantage of the advantage/disadvantage by putting the ball on the floor and creating for somebody else is the key. We're not going to start being more of a post-up team. We're still going to be able to score in transition out of a spread, but we've got to make better decisions in advantage/disadvantage. I think Bryce Brown is a real key for us. In the second half of South Carolina he made, I think, six or seven threes. In the second half last night against College of Charleston he made three. That was important for us. I gotta have Bryce try and be more patient early in the game and then once he makes one, then we're going to feed the monster and let him go. I thought he forced things a little bit too much trying to get himself going and as a result his percentages haven't been as good. Q. Because it's been the last eight games, how much of the dip in field goal percent is because Anfernee is not there? We spoke with him last night and he said doctors have taken a month off of his recovery time? BRUCE PEARL: You've covered us all season long and I don't think there's a time where in answer to a question at a press conference or even in our own private conversations where I've made an excuse. So we miss Anfernee because of the things that he does. As a stretch 5 man who can pick and pop and pick and roll, he was a dangerous weapon, shot a good percentage from the three and he was our best finisher at the rim. Obviously, his rim protection. For his size, he might have been the best shot-blocker in the country. Our emphasis is while we miss Anfernee we are seeing more of Chuma Okeke and Horace Spencer and Desean Murray, and it's a good thing. The answer to your question is those guys are getting more looks and they have to be more productive. Clearly, we miss Anfernee on both ends of the floor. But we're still good enough to win without him. Q. So the SEC has in general been known to be a football conference. What does it mean to you as a coach to lead your team this far into the tournament, and I know you guys aren't done yet? BRUCE PEARL: Well, Max, for me I take great pride in the SEC. This is my tenth season. It's my seventh time in ten years in the NCAA Tournament representing the SEC. I feel responsibility because of the perception of what basketball has been like. But just like there's perception reality, I don't think that perception has always been accurate. One of the things you know about SEC football is the defense, the speed, the physicality, the quickness. It's the explosiveness. That's what separates SEC football from everybody else, on the defensive side of the ball guys can fly around that are big, strong and fast. Why can't we relate that to basketball? Wasn't South Carolina big, strong and fast? Or Florida, Kentucky? Tennessee basketball right now is big and strong and fast. So rather than making excuses we say you know what, SEC basketball is a lot like SEC football. We were big, strong and fast last night in beating College of Charleston. Our athleticism, our speed, our toughness created 21 turnovers, and that was a big factor for us. So I'm pleased with the league got eight teams in and hopefully we will continue to advance. Q. You mentioned the jitters. Now that you've played a game and the players have had that experience, know what to expect, do you think that will help come Sunday? BRUCE PEARL: I think the jitters was an explanation for maybe the free throw shooting. I don't think it had anything else to do with the outcome. College of Charleston is a team that is good enough to beat a lot of teams in this tournament. They were good enough to beat us. Their fractured play is good and Brantley is a nightmare match-up for anybody. So it was a good win last night. When Chealey has 2 points and he averages 18 or 19, he's one of the best players in that league. So I just think the explanation was the free throw shooting. Now Clemson, I think Clemson, their three guards are as good as any three guards in this tournament. Period! Period! I think they've shown that all year long. And then they've got a pro at center in Thomas. So they've got four dudes out there that can really play and the other guys are real good complimentary players. So Clemson has beaten Ohio State and Florida and North Carolina and Miami. They've had some pretty big wins. What I told the team, the next -- we have to win 5 in order to win a National Championship, every one of the teams that we will play right now for the rest of the way are good enough to play in the Final Four, every single one of them, so it's going to take more than not being jittery tomorrow to beat Clemson. Q. Do you expect more shots to fall? BRUCE PEARL: I do. I think we will shoot better from the perimeter. We have no choice. We've got to be able to knock down shots and we have to get better looks and believe it or not we have to be more patient not to shoot the first one that's open. Q. To follow up on the football question, Coach Brownell talked about how he used the football program to help build up his program, bringing recruits to games, adding to excitement around campus. Have you had the same experience at Tennessee and Auburn? BRUCE PEARL: Absolutely! Football home weekends are our big recruiting weekend. There's nothing like SEC football. At home or on the road. I love to go to road SEC football games because there's 30,000 fans that travel on the road in every SEC venue. It's a great party. It's a great celebration. You know, the support is incredible. So when you bring a kid to Auburn for a home football weekend, I mean, the pro pregame atmosphere it's as good as anywhere in the country, none better to be on the field for the Iron Bowl or the Georgia game or whatever it is. So absolutely and Coach Malzahn, he's probably the best recruiter I have. He will sit down and visit with prospects and he will tell those guys what separates Auburn and the same thing that separates Auburn in football is the same thing that separates them in basketball. If guys want to focus on their basketball, their bodies and their bible, Auburn is a great place to come. It's a real fit. I want guys that can fit and if they want something that's going to be, you know, too fast and, you know, too big a city and they want to get lost someplace this is not a great place to come, because everybody in town is going to know who they are but a lot of times that makes guys great. Q. What's your best road venue? BRUCE PEARL: Tennessee. What else do you expect me to say, right? Tennessee and Auburn have the two best venues in the SEC. Q. NCAA put out a statement today saying that Jared was not supposed to shoot that free throw last night. Were you aware of that? I know coaches are aware and sometimes look the other way and hope for the best. What happened on that play? BRUCE PEARL: I saw that on the bus coming in. I had no idea until the statement came out that it was even an issue. So I don't know anymore about it from last night than what you do. What I understand was that Chuma got the rebound and got it to the Jared and the whistle blew. Upon awarding the free throw they pointed to Jared as the shooter. I don't think they pointed to Chuma and Jared went to the line. I think they pointed to Jared, so I think there may have been contact request Chuma and when Jared first got it there may have been contact with him because they were trying to foul. But I didn't know anything about it until coming in on the bus over to the arena. Q. Bruce, Horace to this untrained eye seemed to play strong last night. How much better has he gotten since Anfernee went down and how crucial is it that he keep that up? BRUCE PEARL: It's crucial. We did individual offense today. Guards were down at one end and the bigs at the other. I had 5 guys down at one end and 3 at the other and one of them was 6-3 and Horace and Chuma and Desean, that's our front line. So for Horace, I can't emphasize how much of a leader he is in our locker room. He's an older soul. He has to be because he's a father and Avery celebrated his first birthday yesterday. So what a special birthday present for his son! Horace has been forced to grow up real fast because of some challenges at home and he had a tough upbringing. A lot of love but a lot of challenges. As a result, little things, little problems aren't that big of a deal to Horace because he knows what real challenges are all about. He is also blessed to be here. He knows how far we've come. He remembers how it was when he first got there and we were light years away from seeing postseason. Now to be one of 32 teams Horace feels honored and blessed and feels responsibility to take advantage of this opportunity. So he's stepped his game up, his focus up, and he's got his hands full with Thomas tomorrow. But I have no doubt that physically, emotionally, spiritually, Horace Spencer will step up. Q. Bruce, I know you've seen this Clemson team before in Charleston. What do you think of the match-up going into this game? BRUCE PEARL: I think Brad Brownell does as good of a job as there is. He's an outstanding game planner. They've got great balance, so I think from a standpoint of strategically, I don't see a ton of weaknesses. Their guards play heavy minutes but they have all season long so foul trouble could be an issue. I think that we've got to be able to do what -- we've got to be able to make shots. Mustapha and Bryce and Jared and Chuma and Desean have got to be able to make shots. Our shooters have to make shots and I have to be able to get them good looks and for us to win offensively our spread has to rule the day for us. Jared has to do a great job in ball screen attacking the rim and getting our guys shots. If we do that, we got a chance. Q. Bruce, you talked about getting Chuma and those guys more opportunities to shoot. Do you feel like you probably should have got him the ball a little more in the offense last night? Didn't seem to get very many looks. BRUCE PEARL: Yes, yeah. He definitely needs more touches. He does. Q. In the other game here, Marshall and West Virginia you have a team in Marshall and a coach who is heavily into analytics. He has based his team, his system around that. Is there a place for analytics in college basketball? How much do you use them? Do you see five, ten years down the road all teams being like that? Or is this a niché thing? BRUCE PEARL: It started in the NBA and that's sort of where it all spread. I'm a little bit more simple. Threes and frees. It's not a very complex strategy. We don't have a postgame yet. We go to the line a lot because we take the ball to the basket off the bounce and we're hard to guard and people put their hands on us because we spread the floor. We try to have the lane open. Rather than an lilt particulars, my big deal is how am I going to get Thomas away from the rim because if that big dude stays in the rim he's going to block everything and get every rebound. So it's a factor, and I think analytics are important. But they don't dominate my thinking. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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