College Station, Texas (AP) – Auburn coach Brue Pal knew exactly why the top-ranked team fell to No. 22 Texas A&M on Tuesday night.
“They just controlled us physically,” he said.
What you need to know
The Aggies defeated Auburn in an 83-72 victory
Texas A&M was their first victory against a team ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll
The Tigers also took part in the game with an average of 18.4 points but were injured on a break night from top scorer Johnny Bloom, who only managed eight.
The Aggies never snapped a season-long four-game skid with a 83-72 victory.
This was Texas A&M’s first victory over a team ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll, ending the Tigers’ six-game winning streak, winning the Southeastern Conference title on Saturday, beating Kentucky State.
Auburn has been the top spot in the polls for eight consecutive weeks and has been the unanimous No. 1 pick for the second consecutive week.
Pearl denied that Auburn had seen past the Aggies after closing out the conference championship this weekend. He said their struggle was a matter of A&M playing well Tuesday night.
“They manipulated us physically,” he said. “And if this team continues to win, we’re going to play teams like Texas A&M, teams like Florida, or bigger, physical Duke.”
The Aggies took part in a country-leading game with offensive rebounds, and Pearl pointed out a 24-9 advantage in the game as evidence of physicality.
“We have no excuse to make sure those guys get 24 offensive rebounds,” he said. “I give Texas A&M all the credits. Our peers were physically dominated… so I won’t forgive our peers at all. We’re better than that, but not tonight.”
Hearing Pearl’s comments about the Aggies meant a lot to Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams.
“We have to play incredibly physically. I think we have to do a lot of things that aren’t necessarily on the stats sheet to win,” Williams said.
The Tigers also took part in the game with an average of 18.4 points, but were hurt on a break night from top scorer Johnny Bloom who managed just eight. He left the game for a few minutes early in the first half, looking like a shoulder injury, but played 32 minutes despite the problems.
“It could have influenced him,” Pearl said. “He obviously suffered a shoulder injury in December. He smacked it several times and it was clearly hitting it (Tuesday), which was bothering him. He tried to get through it.”
In addition to Bloom’s struggle on Tuesday, the Tigers had one of the top Denver Jones defenders, sitting with an ankle injury.
“Denver is the best one-on-one cover guy I’ve got,” Pearl said. “So it was clearly a factor in Denver being lacking.”
