The Stretch 4: Can Auburn get back to its identity in Atlanta?
The Tigers have had a week to recover from their loss at Arizona, and they're looking to return to their brand of ball against Chattanooga.
AUBURN — The schedule and the scoreboard weren’t kind to Auburn last time out.
One week ago, Auburn marked its second cross-country trip in as many weeks with a 29-point loss at Arizona, which catapulted to the No. 1 spot in the AP poll afterwards.
“We were exhausted when we went out to Arizona, and that was poor scheduling on our part,” Steven Pearl said this week. “We played three games in three days in Vegas. You know, the following day we travel home, play late Wednesday night against NC State. You travel across the country to play against the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the country in Arizona after they had just been off for a week.
“Their coaching staff did such a damn good job in their scouting, because every entry pass that we had, they had denied. They were pretty well-prepared for us. They knew what they were doing and what was gonna bother us.”
Because of that, what was next for Auburn on the calendar “couldn’t have come at a better time” in Pearl’s eyes. After returning from Arizona, the Tigers got Monday and Tuesday off to start finals week at the university before three straight days of practice.
That will culminate Saturday afternoon in Atlanta, where No. 21 Auburn will play in an arena that has become a second home against a mid-major team in Chattanooga. The Tigers have won seven of their last eight inside State Farm Arena, including a five-game winning streak that includes Sweet 16 and Elite Eight victories from last season.
“Excited for the opportunity to get back to Atlanta,” Pearl said. “It’s always been a fun venue for our guys to play in, always been very well-attended by our fans. Hope to keep that consistent and keep that going. Our guys are excited about it. Our coaching staff is excited about another great opportunity.”
No disrespect to Chattanooga, which comes into this Holiday Hoopsgiving matchup at 5-5 with just two wins over Division I opponents. (It’s also important to note that several higher-rated opponents were slated for this game at first, yet they fell through.)
But Auburn has used this game week as a teaching opportunity after going through a stretch that featured five straight games against high-major opponents.
“It’s been back-to-back-to-back, and so much travel in-between that we haven’t really been able to do as much learning as we need to,” Pearl said. “I think our guys have done a pretty good job trying to absorb the good and the bad and understanding what we’ve got to do to continue to get better.
“That’s the encouraging part about this group: I think they have the ability to get better.”
The main objective? Get back to the identity that got away from the Tigers in the losses but defined them in the wins: Playing hard and playing together for a full 40.
“We’ve just gotta play with unbelievable effort and energy these next three games so we can continue to grow in the areas that we need to grow in order to play in another gauntlet of an SEC schedule,” Pearl said.
For more on what Auburn is focusing on after a tough loss in the desert and what to expect from this Chattanooga matchup Saturday, here is this week’s edition of The Stretch 4 preview.
Auburn’s assist rate has to get better
So far this season, Auburn is only getting assists on 46.2% of its made field goals. According to KenPom, that ranks No. 302 out of 365 Division I teams.
If that sounds like an unusually low number to you, it’s because it is. Auburn was No. 100 in assist rate last season and No. 12 the season before that. It hasn’t been below No. 123 nationally since the 2019-20 season, and the Tigers are currently on pace to have their lowest assist rate in the KenPom era — which started in 1997.