The Tigers suffered a few of defensive mistakes in Tuesday night’s 80-68 victory over Vanderbilt, including allowing an early 15-point lead to be reduced to two points by halftime.
That defense will be put to the ultimate test this Saturday against No. 2 Alabama. The Tide leads the country with an average of 90.5 points per game and are coming off a 103-80 victory against Texas.
While it’s tempting to get caught up in the spectacle of the first-ever No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup between two SEC schools, Bruce Pearl will be looking for ways to excite Auburn’s defense.
“Our identity and one of the things that got us off to such a good start this year, we really started to take pride in how we guard and get stops and turn people over,” said Pearl.
“It’s a long season, it’s a grind. And I think that we’ve lost a little of that edge. We’ve got to try to get that edge back a little bit.”
In Auburn’s first seven conference games, it held opponents to 67.4 points and forced 13.7 turnovers per game. In the last four, opponents have averaged 77.5 points and 12.0 turnovers.
Opponents’ shot above .460 from the floor once and made 30 combined 3-pointers in AU’s first six league games, and shot above .460 three times and made 36 3-pointers in the last five.
Alabama leads the SEC and is 20th nationally averaging 10.2 made 3-pointers per game.
“Florida put 90 on us, and that’s got to sting,” said Pearl. “If we’re going to continue to win, our defense is going to have to carry us and lead the way. I think we got away from that.
“I’m going to do the best job I can to get us back to that because, obviously, Alabama is a phenomenal offensive team.”
Tip-off at Coleman Coliseum is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT on ESPN.
