Auburn head basketball coach Bruce Pearl sat down with the media immediately following his team’s thrashing of Mississippi State.
Opening Statement…
“You just can’t be anything but impressed. I thought the crowd was amazing. We set a record tonight for the most students we have ever had in Neville Arena (since 2021-22 season). Welcome back to campus, welcome back to school! We did what we could when our students were gone and we felt the energy in the building. Our guys felt the energy in the building. Hearing Chaney (Johnson) get introduced with the starters and the way the crowd and the students received him- I thought it was awesome. Our first shot defense was elite tonight. Our coaching staff, Corey Williams and Chad Prewett had the scout, Mike (Burgomaster) had the offense and Steven (Pearl) had the defense. I thought they did a really, really good job.
“Coach (Chris) Jans is an outstanding coach and you know we only play them once this year. We played them three times last year. So it was going to be interesting to see what changes would be made and what they would do. They put 90 on Kentucky on Saturday. They scored 66 against us. I thought the defensive gameplan was great. But more than anything, Chaney and Dylan (Cardwell) with their ability to stay down and be second off of the floor blocked all those shots. They just really worked hard at defending without fouling and that was the difference in the game. Once again, look at the matchup Denver Jones has. (Josh) Hubbard is as good as there is in this league, and this is the second time, SEC Tournament and now here, Denver was locked on him pretty good and once again did an outstanding job.
“A lot of contributions. Miles Kelly and Chaney Johnson were +35. Miles Kelly had eight defensive rebounds. That was one of the best offenses for Mississippi State was just go get it, and just his length. The reason why he can play in the NBA is because he is that three-and-D guy and now you add the rebounding. So really good with Miles putting a few great games together.”
Video and transcript via Auburn Athletics.
