Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl is doing everything he can to make sure star rookie Jabari Smith gets more involved on offense ahead of Tuesday night’s game at Arkansas. The Tigers’ leading scorer took just seven shots and scored seven points – the second time in the last four games Smith has failed to hit double digits – in Auburn’s two-point win in Georgia this weekend.
For the nation’s top-ranked team to fire on all cylinders, Smith needs to be productive offensively and Pearl takes responsibility for that.
“If he had a better coach he would get more shots, so he has to beat me” Pearl said this week.
Auburn (22-1) has won 19 straight heading into one of its toughest road clashes of the season with the Razorbacks as well. Arkansas has won eight straight games and is 18-5 this season. With a strong finish, Auburn will earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament no matter what happens in the SEC Tournament next month.
It starts with getting Smith back on track. He’s averaging 15.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game this season.
The Tigers led by 12 points at one point before a slow start to the second half of Saturday’s win over Georgia, keeping the Bulldogs within striking distance.
“It’s been a constant problem for us this year. So I didn’t understand. I don’t know. I failed in that area,” Pearl said after the game. “And the other thing too is that I should have called a timeout earlier with a short bench. Without Zep and being short in the backcourt, I could have cost us the game by not calling not that timeout. Usually we would have a foul or a bucket or a timeout TV was coming but I didn’t do a good job of using timeouts being a man down. I missed this during my preparation and it could have cost us dearly.
Part of the second-half stall was that the 6-foot-10 Smith wasn’t aggressive in the paint and Georgia did a good job limiting his touches near the edge.
“I didn’t make him look good enough. All I would say is – and I seriously think – Oklahoma, Alabama, travel to Georgia…I think we’re just a little tired” , Pearl said. “And then being a man down. We were tired. I really have to think about the next two days of practice. I might not practice them until we play on Tuesday. Seriously. We can watch a movie, stretch and take pictures, but I don’t even know how much I’m going to move.”