Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl couldn’t help but poke fun at the rumors surrounding his job security after his team’s impressive 94-78 win over the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday.
Pearl’s Tigers clinched the SEC Championship with the victory, which came in Rupp Arena – a venue where Pearl has historically struggled. In fact, Auburn’s win marked their first victory in Rupp Arena since 1988.
Pearl joked about the coaching change rumors, saying, “My line was going to be, every now and then, when y’all have a coaching change, my name comes up – ‘Why in the world would you ever want me to be your coach when I can’t win in Rupp?'”
Pearl acknowledged the challenges his teams have faced in Kentucky, saying, “Having coached Southern Indiana in Evansville, Indiana, having coached in Division 2 for a long time, y’all remember what great basketball there is in the state of Kentucky and the state of Indiana, and how y’all love your high school basketball.”
Despite the historic win, Pearl expressed respect for the Kentucky program, saying, “So I want to bring a team in here and I want to play the basketball. I want to honor the game whether we were going to lose, and we’ve played well a couple of times and gotten beat, but this is obviously historic.”
With the win, Auburn secured their fifth SEC Championship under Pearl’s leadership. As the Tigers look ahead to the NCAA Tournament, Pearl is focused on making a deep run, saying, “This is what we do it for. To make history.”
At 65 years old, Pearl is showing no signs of slowing down, and his team’s dominant performance against Kentucky is a testament to his coaching prowess.
