The Stretch 4: Auburn will get tested by familiar faces vs. NC State
Will Wade's Wolfpack will be in town Wednesday night, and Steven Pearl's Tigers know a lot of what they're going to get from them.
AUBURN — Has any head coach in college basketball had a more star-studded schedule to start his tenure than Steven Pearl?
Eight games into his first season as the head man with Auburn basketball, Pearl has faced four coaches who have been to the Final Four: Kelvin Sampson, Dana Altman, Dusty May and Rick Pitino. Pearl went 2-2 against those coaches, dropping a close one to Sampson before beating Altman and Pitino around a blowout loss to a seemingly unstoppable May last week in Las Vegas.
In his ninth game, Pearl will return home to face someone who hasn’t been to the Final Four, but has still been to the NCAA Tournament in seven of his last eight chances across three different schools.
Now Will Wade, who won the SEC regular season title at LSU the first time Auburn went to the Final Four, is at NC State. He’s been tasked with trying to lead the ‘Pack back to glory on Tobacco Road, and his transfer-heavy overhaul has already paid huge dividends on the offensive end of the floor.
“This team is, obviously, tremendously talented offensively,” Pearl said Tuesday. “They really shoot the ball really, really well: 36% of their points come off of 3s, and they shoot it at 42%, which is seventh in the country nationally. So, really shoot it well. They’re great in transition. They create offense from their defense, do a good job of rebounding the offensive glass and turning them into second-chance points.
“All five guys on their starting lineup are averaging double-digits and I want to say four of those… actually, wow. All five guys are shooting over 40% from 3. So that’s fun.”
As Pearl pointed out, NC State will be the third straight elite offensive team Auburn has faced. NC State is No. 8 in KenPom in adjusted offensive efficiency. St. John’s is No. 7. Michigan is No. 11. And Arizona, which Auburn will face on Saturday, is No. 9.
On top of that, NC State is going to come in with some extra motivation. Despite being a favorite to win the Maui Invitational as an early-season ranked team, NC State went 1-2 last week, losing by 11 to Seton Hall and by 5 to Texas around an 11-point win over Boise State.
“We can’t get too high after beating a good St. John’s team, because you’ve got an NC State team coming in here who is just going to be pissed off because they went 1-2 in Maui,” Pearl said. “They were probably the best team out there, and they didn’t play the way that they were supposed to. And I know that Coach Wade is going to have those guys fired up.
“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. They’re going to have their backs against the wall. Their hair’s going to be on fire, and they’re going to come in here looking at this one as a must-win game.”
But Auburn should have plenty of motivation, too. This is the only marquee non-conference game it plays at home this season. The Tigers will play their next three games in Tucson, Atlanta and Indianapolis. It’s a late 8:15 p.m. CT tipoff for TV purposes, and Pearl wants Neville Arena to be at the peak of its powers for it.
“We need a full house tomorrow night,” Pearl said. “I know our students are going to be fired up and ready to go. Should be a fun environment against a really good team.”
And Auburn has plenty at stake on its own. As shooting guard Kevin Overton said on Tuesday, the goal for the Tigers right now is to prove that they can be a consistent team — not just one that only gets going for big moments. Beating a dangerous NC State team at home would be another step towards achieving that.
It also helps that Auburn is familiar with several of these NC State faces, even outside of Wade. Ven-Allen Lubin has played Auburn three times before, once at North Carolina in Maui and twice at Vanderbilt. Tre Holloman was a key player off the bench for Michigan State in the Elite Eight matchup in March. Terrence Arceneaux played Auburn twice when he was at Houston.
And NC State’s top star and preseason ACC Player of the Year pick, Darrion Williams? He was teammates with Overton at Texas Tech last season.
“Having him as the head of the snake, with that much freedom, is scary,” Overton said. “But if we approach it with how we do things, and we do what we’re supposed to do, we’ll be OK. I’ll be up for that one.
“Hopefully, we can contain them. I think we will be able to.”
For more on Auburn’s ACC/SEC Challenge showdown with NC State, here is this week’s edition of The Stretch 4 preview.
Filip Jović will be good to go for a team that could use him
The good news for Auburn heading into this NC State matchup is that it should have everyone available up front again.