AUBURN, Alabama–Bruce Pearl said Tuesday that he expects his team’s defense to be challenged Wednesday in an SEC home basketball game against Vanderbilt. The Auburn coach also stressed that he wants to see his Tigers improve offensively.
Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CST at Auburn Arena with television coverage on the SEC Network.
The Tigers, who are ranked No. 2 this week in the AP Top 25 and coaching polls, are 23-2 overall and 11-1 in the Southeastern Conference.
The Commodores, who have won two of their last three games, are 5-7 in the league and 13-11 overall. Vanderbilt is 4-5 this season in road games and 2-4 away in SEC play.
“Jerry Stackhouse did a great job coaching them,” Pearl said. “He’s a very, very good attacking coach and what they run is really, really good.”
“Vanderbilt is the best three-point shooting team in the league,” Pearl said of an opponent who averages 8.4 treys per game and hits 33.3 percent of his treys. In SEC play, the Commodores make 37.5% of their threes with a record 108 makes, an average of nine per contest.
“These teams are obviously really, really dangerous,” said Pearl, whose team has won the last four contests against the Commodores after the Tigers lost 13 straight in the series.
“They have the Preseason Conference Player of the Year in Pippen (Scotty Pippen, Jr.) and he certainly wasn’t disappointed with what he did,” Pearl said. Wright (Jordan Wright) is the most physical goaltender in the league. No. 10 Miles (Stute) is a four-year-old man and a tough kid. He shoots the ball very well.
Vanderbilt is averaging 68.8 points and allowing 65.5 while shooting 41.6 percent from the field and 68.4 percent from the free throw line. Opponents make 41.5% of their field goals and 29.7% of their threes.
Auburn is scoring 80 points per game and giving up 66.6. The Tigers are making 44.5% of their field goals, 31.3% of their threes and 72.9% of their free throws. The Tigers allow opponents to score 38.2% from field goals and 31.0% from three points.
The Pearl Tigers have failed to hit 40 percent shooting from the field in the previous three games and dropped from first to third in league games for shooting fouls after a week of decline in that category. “The key for us offensively is to make more free kicks and threes,” the coach said. “If we can do that to go along with what we’re doing from two, we’ll be better.”
The Pearl Tigers have a plus 5.1 rebound margin while the Stackhouse Commodores have less than 0.9 per game. Auburn forces 3.2 more turnovers per game than it commits while Vandy is 0.9 plus.
Auburn is averaging 14.5 assists per game with a national leading 8.4 blocked shots while Vandy is blocking 3.8 shots per game and averaging 11.2 assists.
Returning All-SEC junior guard Pippen is the league’s leading scorer with 18.9 points per game. Wright, a 6-6, 215 junior guard/forward, is Pippen’s only teammate with a double-digit 12.0-point average to go with a team-leading 6.3 rebounds per game. Stute is third in scoring with 8.8 per game.
*** Subscribe: Get the latest news and scoops from Auburn***