The Stretch 4: Auburn is healthy (!) and ready after a holiday break
Tahaad Pettiford and KeShawn Murphy are back after leaving the Purdue game early with injuries. That's huge as SEC play draws closer.
AUBURN — There might not have been many college basketball teams that needed a Christmas break more than Auburn.
After playing five top-30 teams in the span of six games — including the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5 squads in the country — Auburn got its last real break of the season over the holidays. The Tigers went back home after a road loss at Purdue last Saturday and didn’t return to Neville Arena until Friday.
They marked their return with what Steven Pearl described as one of the best practices of the season, particularly for two starters with injury concerns.
“We needed to get our legs back and just get healthy,” Pearl said.
Both point guard Tahaad Pettiford and center KeShawn Murphy practiced Friday after leaving the Purdue game early with injuries. Pettiford injured his ankle in the second half and later left the arena on a walking boot. Murphy, who has dealt with a laundry list of minor injuries since arriving at Auburn, also exited early with a leg issue.
Pearl said Pettiford would be fine for Auburn’s next matchup, which will come late Monday night in a non-conference finale against relative Division I newcomer Queens.
“Yeah, he's good,” Pearl said. “Had a great practice yesterday. Responded to some tough coaching and had one of his better practices of the year yesterday. Ankle's fine. He's tweaked his ankle multiple times throughout his career, even in high school. It's just something that he has to continue to monitor and continue to get treatment on.”
The timing of a nearly week-long break — and nine days between games — couldn’t have come any better for both Pettiford and Murphy. The big man from Birmingham got to take full advantage of staying off his feet for a few days, and Pearl said Murphy looked like his old self Friday.
“I think four days at home and some home cooking was really good for Murph,” Pearl said. “He was bouncing around the gym yesterday, dunking all over the place. He looked like the Murph that played against Houston. We were going back and watching some film, just trying to find some good clips offensively and defensively — and his activity in that game was so much different than what it's been throughout the year.
“I was like, 'Murph, that's the guy we need. You were the Murph that we know you were capable of in the Houston game. Let's get more of that.' … For him, it's just being able to trust and be confident in what he's battling right now. It's hard to be effective when you're scared to jump. I think that's part of his hesitation. He doesn't want to get hurt again. But for him to be effective, he's got to play with that effort and energy that we know he's capable of.”
This double dose of positive injury news means Auburn should be at full strength for its final game of December, which bodes well for an SEC opener in exactly one week at rival Georgia.
For Pearl, this Queens matchup will be another opportunity for his rested and reenergized Auburn team to take a step forward — which he hopes will be a pattern throughout conference action over the next couple of months.
“It’s a team that’s got pieces to win games,” Pearl said. “For us, we talk about it ad nauseam: Good teams win, great teams get better. For us to be a great team, we’ve just got to continue to get better.”
For more on what we heard from Pearl as Auburn basketball comes back home and gears up for the visit from Queens, here’s a special holiday edition of The Stretch 4.
