Auburn men's basketball battles unrivaled nonconference schedule ahead of SEC play

INDIANAPOLIS — How to describe the docket of doom that is the Auburn men’s basketball schedule? What to think about all those ugly bruises on the Tigers’ resume? Maybe this will explain it:

There are at least two things Arizona, Houston, Michigan and Purdue have in common.

They have all been ranked No. 1 this season in either the AP or coaches’ poll.
   
And as of Saturday, Auburn has played them all.

Lost to them all, too, the latest was an 88-60 mashing by Purdue on Saturday in downtown Indianapolis. Another day, another body slam by a present or past resident of the penthouse. It was 102-72 against Michigan, 97-68 versus Arizona. But only 73-72 against Houston, with a shot to win at the end.

Four opponents of top-ranked timber in five weeks with a combined record at the close of business Saturday of 43-2. Whose bright idea was this?

“It wasn’t me, so you can call BP on that one,” Steven Pearl said, meaning Bruce Pearl, the suddenly retired coach (and father) who left his replacement (and son) a nonconference schedule that turned into a walk through the valley of death.

It hasn’t just been the Fab Four of No. 1s. There was also Big East preseason favorite St. John’s, Southern conference favorite Chattanooga, capable power leaguers NC State and Oregon. Auburn beat those four by double digits. Only one of the eight mentioned games were on the Tigers’ home court. If a team ever deserved dispensation for its blemishes, it would be them. There are soft 8-4 records, there are medium 8-4 records and then there is Auburn’s 8-4 record.

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Saturday was ugly, all right. Gainbridge Fieldhouse, home of the Pacers and Fever, isn’t Purdue’s home court but might as well have been — 75 minutes from campus and 30 miles from Purdue All-American Braden Smith’s high school. Besides, the Boilermakers and their friendly crowd were on fire for revenge after the number Auburn put on them last season, leading by 33 points and winning by 18. Purdue shot 56% from the field on Saturday, didn’t miss any of its 10 free throws and crunched the Tigers 40-20 in the paint. Payback time. “I really wanted to beat this team,” Boilermaker Trey Kaufman-Renn said. “I wish we had won by 50 points instead of what we did.”

Auburn went to the Final Four last April with a confident bunch. “They just had that swagger about them,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “They knew they were going to kick your ass.” Different year, different cast, different Pearl. But instead of dwelling on Saturday’s whipping, consider Auburn’s gauntlet as a whole, and what this team has been through the past five weeks.

Steven Pearl, you have the floor.

“You look at the schedule at this point through 12 games with 10 new players and the only returner a sophomore point guard, it was too much. It was probably one or two games too much,” he said on Saturday. “You look across the country, there’s not 10 teams that have a better record than us up to this point with the schedule that we’ve played. There just aren’t. Maybe five in my opinion."

“Would I rather be 9-3? Of course. 10-2? Sure. But 8-4 with the schedule that we’ve played, it’s solid. Here’s the encouraging part. We’re going to watch that film, I think we’re going to learn a lot from it. We’re going to look at it and think...we missed a lot of open shots tonight. That’s why the game got away from us.”

Auburn shot only 36% from the field. Kevin Overton had 22 points for the Tigers, Keyshawn Hall 14, and everyone else a combined 24 points. Braden Smith had 14 assists, or one more than the entire Auburn team. It was close enough early for six lead changes, but the Tigers kept clanging shots and the gap exploded. Hard games against merciless opponents can help a team mature. But still.

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“We’ve got to get more competitive in these games,” Pearl said. “We can’t get blown out like this. Tonight is the one exception where I thought we competed at a level that the score wasn’t what I thought it was. The Michigan and Arizona games, we just got our ass kicked.”

There seem no nice cushy assignments ahead, either. Next on Dec. 29 is 5-7 Queens, which sounds like a nice change, but notice the Royals were picked to win the ASUN this season. Then the SEC opener at Georgia, with its new AP ranking, 10-1 record and highest scoring average in the nation. Then the rest of the league schedule, filled with danger. By March, Auburn will have played 31 regular season games, but only eight against opponents who were not in the NCAA tournament last spring.

So forgive the Tigers if they looked a tad weary Saturday evening as they gathered arm-in-arm for their post-game circle on the court. Tahaad Pettiford was in a walking boot with an ankle injury, as if Auburn needs this to get any harder. “I think we’re just learning how to be in these games,” Overton said.

It’s all part of the development process for a new roster, and Pearl, too. He spent most of his adult life on his father’s staff until the top job was suddenly his in September. 

“Following BP, he does a lot of things that not a lot of head coaches do, and that’s kind of fallen on my plate,” he said of his father’s knack for spending time connecting with the masses. “As an assistant you can just watch film all day and you can recruit. That’s all you do. There’s a hundred other things you have to do as a head coach."

“But my sole focus is these guys right now. We’ve put them in a really tough situation and I think they’ve answered the bell to this point. I’m proud of my team. People may not want to hear me say that right now but I am. I’m going to watch this film and I’m going to be more encouraged than what most people are going to be back home.”

An Auburn return to the Final Four? Maybe not. But there’s a good chance the Tigers have already lost to a team — quite possibly more than one — who will be there.