AUBURN, Ala. – In victory or defeat, No. 20 Auburn coach Steven Pearl takes an even-keeled approach.
The Tigers won two of three games at last week’s Players Era event in Las Vegas, with wins over Oregon and No. 14 St. John’s bookending a loss to No. 7 Michigan preceding Wednesday’s ACC/SEC Challenge visit from NC State.
“Just like the Michigan game, you can’t get too low because you’ve got to respond and get ready for the next one,” Pearl said. “We can’t get too high after beating a good St. John’s team because you’ve got an NC State team tomorrow that’s going to be (upset) because they went 1-2 in Maui and they were probably the best team out there.”
It will be the Wolfpack’s first true road game, even though they traveled nearly 10,000 miles round-trip to Raleigh, North Carolina to Hawaii.
Helmed by former LSU coach Will Wade, the Wolfpack lost to Seton Hall and Texas in the Maui Invitational while defeating Boise State.
“I told our guys, they’re going to be playing with a different level of effort and energy than they’ve played with all year,” Pearl said. “They’re going to have their backs against the wall, their hair is going to be on fire and they’re going to be looking at this as a must-win game.”
With an 8:15 p.m. CT midweek tip, Pearl encouraged season ticket holders to make sure someone is in their seats wearing orange and blue.
“Folks who have season tickets who can’t make it, please transfer your tickets to a friend or anyone, to me, and I’ll find a way to get them out to somebody,” he said. “We’ve got to get those things filled for this game. It’s our second-to-last home game before conference play, so we need a full house tomorrow night.
“I know our students are going to be fired up, ready to go. It should be a fun environment against a really good team.”
NC State averages 11.3 3-pointers per game while shooting 42.2 percent, a challenge Auburn’s Kevin Overton takes personally.
“That’s something I take pride in,” said Overton, who will get a chance to guard his former Texas Tech teammate Darrion Williams, the Wolfpack’s leading scorer (18.7). “I don’t think I’ve seen in my few years of playing college basketball a team shooting as well as they are right now across the board.”
Auburn’s not-for-the-faint-of-heart nonconference schedule includes four teams currently ranked in the top 10: No. 1 Purdue, No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Michigan and No. 8 Houston.
The Tigers travel to Tucson Saturday night to play the second-ranked Wildcats.
“We have an unbelievable opportunity this week to play two high-powered offenses,” Pearl said, “to sit down and guard and see what we’re capable of.”
Conference bragging rights are on the line when No. 20 Auburn (6-2) hosts NC State (5-2) Wednesday at 8:20 p.m. CT on ESPN and the Auburn Sports Network, where Andy Burcham and Randall Dickey will bring the action to listeners.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer