	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: KANSAS CITY

March 28, 2019

Kansas City, Missouri

THE MODERATOR: As advertised, right on time, head coach of Auburn, Bruce Pearl. We're going to ask him to make a statement about his team, about being here in Kansas City, and then we will go to questions. Bruce, please.

BRUCE PEARL: Thank you. We are humble, we're hungry, we're honored, we're grateful. We feel blessed, and we're excited about still being one of the 16 teams still playing in the NCAA Tournament.

At the end of last season, we had only seven scholarship guys. We got to the second round and really struggled, and our guys kind of came up with an unfinished big logo that we've been focused on all season long. And I thought we took that into March, started playing our best basketball, and just very proud of our kids and very happy for Auburn. Auburn has been a great place, and they've won championships in virtually everything, but it's been awhile since the men's basketball program has been competitive. Our kids are very pleased to have been able to restore that.

Q. Two things for you. First thing, you know if you look at the advanced numbers, this is one of the fastest, North Carolina teams in tempo. What makes them -- what makes this particular group so fast. And second thing is, what's kind of your game plan in terms of some teams want to try to slow it? I'm guessing you don't want to. Will you try to run with them?
BRUCE PEARL: Yeah. If you watch Roy, he doesn't get upset very often, but when he does, it's when his team gives up an offensive rebound. And I think it's very illustrative to the fact that a offensive rebound will lead to a potential basket for the opponent. You took an opportunity away for them to get a basket. They look at every defensive rebound as three seconds away from a layup. They hit and rebound really well.

Second thing is, when that ball is in their possession, either gone through the net or make or rebound and miss, they're flying. Their first two, three steps for the last 25 years have been as hard and fast as anybody in college basketball. The hardest thing to do defensively is to get back in transition. That's the hardest thing to do. So why not be the best in the country or maybe the best in the history of college basketball at being the best transition offensive team, and that's who North Carolina is.

As far as our game plan is concerned, we'll try and slow it down when they have the ball, but we're not -- we can't slow down ourselves because that's how we try to play, also.

Q. Bruce what does it say about the competitiveness of the league until yesterday there's many job openings and there were teams in the Sweet 16?
BRUCE PEARL: Well, first of all, the league is as good as it's ever been. I felt like we were the fourth best team in our league. I felt that Tennessee, Kentucky, and LSU -- and I started speaking this way in January -- had shown me they separated themselves from the rest, and we tied for fourth with South Carolina.

I think all of us had to get through a real grind to be able to get there. Even the teams at the bottom of the league were really good.

Commitment. Great coaches. The fan support has increased. I'm upset about all the coaching changes. I understand that it's a high risk, high reward profession. But I can tell you almost all of us coaches got into this business because we love the game. We love to teach. We all got in as teachers. We could just as easily be high school coaches as we could be college coaches. We're good at what we did and advanced in our profession.

But I know we're judged based on our winning, but there's so much more to what we have to do on a daily basis. It's a ministry of graduating kids and serving the community and doing all those things. So I just wish there could be -- can we just slow down, can Board of Trustees or presidents and athletic directors in leadership positions somehow get a handle on this?

Q. Bruce, of all the Sweet 16 teams, it looks like North Carolina is probably about your toughest matchup. What do you think about that?
BRUCE PEARL: Well, the reason why they're a tough matchup for us they lead the nation in rebound margin plus 10. We're a minus 4 in our own league.

So, their strength is our weakness. So, if we can somehow hang in there on the boards, we can -- we have a fighting chance. If we can't, we don't.

I think that maybe just North Carolina is a tough matchup because they're playing really well right now. They're hitting on all cylinders, shooting the ball well, they're playing great together. They've been through the ACC, so they've already got a piece of a championship. So yeah, from that standpoint, obviously it is -- it's a tough matchup.

They're also second in the country in assists. So they play the game the right way, share the ball, you know. It's not complicated, but it's really effective.

Q. How important, Bruce, is it to you to make history or to do things that haven't been done often?
BRUCE PEARL: These are once in a lifetime opportunities to be able to make history. I mean, I told our guys when will any of us be able to say that we're four games away from a national championship? And so I want them to look ahead. I want them to dream and understand what's possible and have them say why not us?

Now, we've got to play our best basketball to beat North Carolina. But we're here, and so we have an opportunity. We can't log minutes. We got to be able the make place defensively, make shots offensively. That's important to us.

And so our guys -- if you listen to our players, they'll talk about trying to make history as much as their coach talks about it.

Q. It's a big time in the spotlight to be on a lot of programs like yours who aren't here all the time. It's a big time for the spotlight to be on basketball on the court. But unfortunately, there's a lot of stuff off the court going on, too, with lawyers and FBI investigations and all this. What's your thoughts on just the state of the game right now, what's happening off the court and can college basketball make it through all of this?
BRUCE PEARL: Yeah, it's a great question.

Athletic scholarships in the university system has done as much to diversify our country as anything. The incredible opportunities that have been provided in higher education, lives changed, family changed. Brought us altogether so much as a nation supporting our teams and the opportunity that is presented to individuals, men and women.

99 percent of what we got going is still really, really good and we should continue to focus on that. At the same time, you know, there have been some things that have -- that are taking place that distract a little bit from the game and from what we're trying to do. I think we should try to keep those things in perspective. I think we should work to try to, you know, improve in that area, deal with it openly and honestly, get to the facts before we judge, and let the process work itself out.

Q. Lot of talk has been made about UN C's guard plays, Coby White. You have two guards in Brown and Harper have really kind of carried your team in the post-season. How special has their play been to your team?
BRUCE PEARL: It's a great match up of guards. They've got big guards that are also quick. We've got little guards that are also quick.

So, I don't know that we have a speed and quickness advantage, but they do have a size and length advantage. Williams is a senior. So he's a great settling force for them. White is a McDonald's All American, dynamic talent that's just run through this post-season here in March. It's elevated his stock.

If he was at Murray State, they would be talking about Coby White like they talk about Ja. He's a very, very similar player. Those kids are probably trying to take advantage of the moment and the stage.

Guard play is important. We have gone as a team, as Jared and Bryce have gone. Except in March, we won a few games where either one or both didn't have their best night. That's a great sign.

My guess is we continue -- if we're going to advance in this tournament, it will probably be back to we'll go as they go.

Q. Bruce, take us back to prior to taking the Auburn job, how difficult was it to remain patient and confident that you would be back up there with this kind of opportunity again?
BRUCE PEARL: When -- couple things happened. When I got out of coaching and I started working on the other side, I was paid for what I did myself as an analyst or as somebody worked with XM radio. And for the first time in my life, I was never judged based on what I could get others to do as a teacher or as a coach. Does that make sense?

And so it was a little bit less fulfilling, because I couldn't share my efforts with others, with the team. And so I missed, that and I didn't know how much my family missed me being in coaching. I didn't know how much I missed coaching until I actually watched the movie "The Help."

That movie came out when I was not in coaching. And what was going on at Mississippi with the maids and things like that, that was a fight that I was fighting for many years in the '70s and the '80s when I was a young coach, because there was a lot more segregation, there was a lot more racism, antisemitism. It still exists, but worse then.

Really worked to fight that fight to see opportunity and equality change. And I missed those aspects of working with our student-athletes and helping them realize their goals and their dreams.

As far as being patient is concerned, Auburn was perfect because it was the SEC. People had seen what we did at Tennessee, and we were able to, in that part of the country, sort of have respect going into the Auburn job because they had seen what we had done before.

THE MODERATOR: Three more questions.

Q. You've been really thorough in explaining why North Carolina is a matchup for your team. Why is your team a tough matchup for North Carolina?
BRUCE PEARL: Well, I think two things that we do well. We turn people over and we knock down a 3 ball. If we can do those two things, well, we're a tough matchup for anybody.

We have got to somehow be able to slow North Carolina down and we somehow have to disrupt them, but if we get crazy extended, they'll post us, they'll drive us. Their size will matter more.

Let's face it, they're comfortable playing against a team that doesn't hold the ball, limit possessions. They can play with great freedom offensively because they're going to get a lot of possessions. Our ability to turn them over and our ability to make 3s.

Q. Bruce, this is a follow-up to the question about the NCAA troubles. The site, all four teams have their issues with NCAA, the coaches or the schools themselves. What does that say about the NCAA, and what would you say, having gone through what you did, to people who say that college basketball is kind of a cesspool these days?
BRUCE PEARL: I'm not deferring from the question. I live it all the day and see all the good that's taking place on college campuses with students that have opportunities to be able to change their lives that they might not have otherwise.

No, it's not a cesspool. There are some things that are wrong with it, things that take place that are inappropriate. That's the business of college basketball. The reason why the NCAA is involved in this is because it's their job to monitor. It's their job to enforce. It's their job to encourage people to work hard, to do it the right way and not allow some of the other things to seep into the business because of the business and the money and the pressures.

So again, it's part of the process. The question is, what do you want to focus on? We need to continue to work to keep it clean, but we need to understand all the good that's being done.

THE MODERATOR: Final question right here.

Q. Everybody within the conference knew how great it was during the course of the season, yet seemed like other than Kentucky, there wasn't a whole lot of enthusiasm and excitement generated by the different fan bases. How are things back on campus now and do you anticipate a big turnout?
BRUCE PEARL: I think we're going to have a great turnout and I think we'll have great support. But I would say this: I remember talking to Mike Slive, good friend. I said, Mike, what always made the ACC what it was wasn't just Duke and North Carolina. I always thought it was all those other schools when Gary Williams was at Maryland or when Norm Sloan was at NC State or when Clemson had their run-in, Wake Forest had their run-in, the depth and breathe of the ACC was what always made it the dominant conference in college basketball.

I said it can't just be Kentucky. It can't just be when Billy Donovan was at Florida and. So when I was at Tennessee or here at Auburn, Frank Martin at South Carolina or what -- you know, what Rick Barnes has done at Tennessee. And so I would say that they're pretty excited at Tennessee. They're pretty excited at a lot of different places about basketball, men's basketball in the SEC now.

If you look at the buildings, their attendance is really there and better players, better coaches, better results.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you Bruce, best of luck.

Up here with me is Jared Harper and Bryce Brown. We will open up with questions starting right here.

Q. This is for both you guys. What do you guys think are going to be the keys for you to be successful tomorrow night? And I guess, are you glad to not be playing at an altitude like last week?
JARED HARPER: Just continue to do the things that we've been doing, defending and rebounding at a high level and creating turnovers to lead to our offense. If we continue to do those things, continue to play offensively and getting the production that we've been getting from all ten players, I feel like we'll do well.

BRYCE BROWN: Same thing, you know. On top of that, we know they're a good, fast-breaking team, and just like us, how they like -- how we like to get down and shoot 3 in transition. They like to get layups. It will be an interesting in seeing how we can slowdown their fast break. And altitude, that's going to be a big difference I can definitely say. Definitely had an impact on me last week, the altitude, and so definitely blessed we don't have to deal with that anymore.

Q. There's four SEC teams in the Sweet 16 this weekend. As a player, how much does it help you guys playing in the conference that tough to make a run in the NCAA Tournament?
BRYCE BROWN: It definitely, you know, just goes to show the toughness of our league, and hopefully people are starting to recognize that more. SEC since I've been there is -- has always stepped up a year, every single year it's gotten more competitive. There's four of us this year, just reminds people and reminds us how tough our league is. We're going to continue to do that by advancing. Hopefully, we can continue to advance.

JARED HARPER: Just knowing going into SEC play, it's a tough game every night no matter who you're playing. There's -- just knowing it's going to prepare us for these moments like this. This is great to have that, the opportunity during the season. Some conferences you have to pretty much be perfect to make it to the NCAA Tournament, but being in a great conference like the SEC, you don't have to be perfect. They'll be tough games every night. It's definitely guys ready for this moment.

Q. What do you guys think of the shooting background here at the arena, and, you know, do you like the fact that North Carolina likes to play fast like you guys do?
JARED HARPER: I think the shooting has been great. We shot the ball well today. We had a little practice yesterday, so we were able to work the plane out of us and just the ride and be able to get those shots up. But today I feel like we shot the ball well as a team. We'll have an opportunity to shoot tomorrow before the game. So I'm going to be prepared and just playing against North Carolina, just knowing they like the play fast, and Kansas likes to play fast. This game is going to be even more fun.

BRYCE BROWN: What was your second question?

Q. Playing fast, shooting background.
BRYCE BROWN: The background -- I would say a little better from the last gym. I feel like we all shot well today. I shot well. So I felt like the backdrop shouldn't be a problem. Playing fast, that's -- talking about how that will be key for us. We're not going to change how we play. Most teams will be afraid around North Carolina. I feel like one of those teams, we're not going to play the way we play. We'll continue to get up and down in transitions and we expect the same thing from them.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for the gentlemen from Auburn?

All right. Gentlemen, you're dismissed. Thank you very much and best of luck.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297