'You've got to bring it' - Auburn to face in-state rival in SEC Tournament quarterfinals

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March 8, 2018

By Jeff Shearer
AuburnTigers.com

ST. LOUIS- Bruce Pearl watched the buzzer-beater from the second press row, conferred with his assistant coaches, and left Scottrade Center knowing a third matchup with Auburn's in-state rival awaited.

"We've got to win three games to a win a championship," Pearl said Thursday evening after Auburn's practice at Washington University.

The No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament, conference regular season champion Auburn will play Alabama Friday at noon CT in the quarterfinals, after Alabama's Collin Sexton hit a game-winner in a 71-70 victory over Texas A&M.

"I know their size and length really bothered us the first time we played them," Pearl said. "The second time we played them, I don't know that we could have played any better than we did in that game."

Auburn and Alabama split their season series with each school winning on its home court.

"Playing them a third time, coming up with a third game plan, we've got to go with what works and stay away from what didn't," Pearl said.

Auburn held a morning shootaround at the 20,948-capacity venue before installing its game plan at a nearby university once the Tigers' opponent was determined.

"I thought the guys had two really good workouts today," Pearl said. "I thought they were locked in."

Sexton scored 27 points in 33 minutes on Thursday. Pearl discounted the notion that fatigue might slow Auburn's opponent on Friday.

"It's an advantage for the team playing in the second game, especially early," Pearl said. "They've played on the floor. They've shot. The rest will do us a lot of good, but it may not do us a ton of good in the first five or 10 minutes of the game, so they would get an advantage early. "I typically have found that it's not until the third game that fatigue becomes a factor. The third and fourth games, that's when sometimes the fatigue can be an issue."

Rebounding, Pearl said, would play a key role in Friday's outcome. Alabama outrebounded Auburn 37-35 on Jan. 17 in a 76-71 win in Tuscaloosa. Auburn won the battle of the boards 41-35 on Feb. 21 in a 90-71 blowout at Auburn Arena.

"I'm definitely going to have to crash the boards," said Auburn's Desean Murray, who garnered 18 rebounds in the first two rivalry renditions.

"I'm definitely going to have to get it at the offensive end with the rebounds," Murray said. "I'm going to play really hard because it's SEC Tournament time and our season is just getting started."

Auburn's leading rebounder averaging 6.8 per game, the 6-foot-3 Murray savored the prospect of displaying his team's talent on ESPN.

"The arena was amazing," Murray said. "It's going to be a fun environment to play in. It's the SEC Tournament, so you've got to bring it."

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @jeff_shearer