Takeaways: Bruce Pearl talks challenge of Appalachian State on the road, defending without fouling and more

AUBURN — Auburn basketball (5-1) will hit the road on Saturday traveling to Boone, North Carolina for a matchup against Sun Belt foe Appalachian State on Sunday.

The Mountaineers are ranked No. 112 per T-Rank and No. 101 per KenPom. Auburn is ranked No. 14 per T-Rank and No. 16 per KenPom.

The game was scheduled over three years ago. Auburn hosted Appalachian State in December of 2020, winning by 14 points. The return trip is one Bruce Pearl is looking forward to in hopes his team experiences growth.

“Going on the road to Appalachian State, they are picked second in the Sun Belt behind 25th-ranked James Madison. What started out looking like a really good road game against a good mid-major, maybe someone not quite the caliber of a SEC team, turns into more like a team that would be in the lower half of the SEC. They are a good team,” Pearl said. “They have good size, high-major athletes, they are well coached.”

Read more from Pearl below:

This will be the only true road game for the Tigers before the travel to Arkansas to start SEC play on January 6.

“That’s the reason why we scheduled it, to have that test and environment. What it’ll do is it will elevate the level of Appalachian State’s play. They are athletic, great size, they’ll be jacked up. We have to be able to handle their elevated play and at the same time, not let the environment disrupt our play. We have a great example of it at Neville Arena. We understand what the best atmopshere in college basketball feels like and looks like.”

Freshman Aden Holloway has moved into the starting role at point guard and seems to be adjusting well. He’s second on the team in scoring (11 ppg), first in assists per game (3.5), third in 3-point FG percentage (40.8) and first in plus/minus with Auburn being +98 points better than the opponent so far through six games when Holloway is on the floor.

“I’ve seen Aden care about winning only, winning first and foremost. His own player development is important to him, but anything and everything he needs to to improve, adjust, learn, to get better, it’s just all he cares about is winning. That’s going to serve him well his entire career. He’s going to be guarded differently than he did in AAU ball, and he won’t always be guarded the same way. His ability to read the defense, grow in that regard. Obviously, defensively, know that whether he’s a freshman or undersized, he’s going to get lined up. He needs to be able to handle it. He’s accountable for it.”

KenPom ranks Appalachian State’s defense No. 78 nationally, while T-Rank ranks them No. 72.

“They are a hard prep because they are multiple. They will play man and they will play zone, and you have to prepare for both because they are good at both. They will press a little and you have to prepare for that. It’s a good preparation for us, but it won’t be an easy preparation because they do good stuff.”

Fouling continues to be an issue. Auburn is the 28th-ranked team in college basketball team in terms of fouls per game, committing 20.8 fouls per game. That places the Tigers in the bottom 10 percent nationally. Pearl thinks there’s quite a few factors going into that, but sees progress.

“I think a lot of it, so much of the fouls is the way the game is called. What the crew is going to let go and not go. I thought we tried to defend without fouling against Virginia Tech. I thought we were playing really well. You just have to adjust. I thought we defended well without fouling in the second half. Then what happens is there are rule changes, the secondary defender can’t rotate over, there’s more one-on-one play a the rim, trying to play more vertically at the rim. And I’m watching a lot of college basketball at the beginning of the year to get a feel for what they are calling and not calling. Clearly, the importance of fouling without fouling is something we’re working on and I think we’ve made some progress.”

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