Auburn Rallies Past Texas: Steven Pearl Breaks Down the Tigers’ Gritty Comeback
For a while on Wednesday night, it looked like the Texas Longhorns were in full control. They came into Neville Arena and punched Auburn in the mouth early, building a lead that had all the signs of a road statement win. But Auburn had other plans-and a second-half surge turned what could’ve been a tough home loss into a gritty, character-building victory.
That’s four straight wins now for the Tigers, and this one might be the most telling of the bunch. Head coach Steven Pearl didn’t sugarcoat what went wrong in the opening 20 minutes, and he certainly didn’t shy away from praising his team’s fight in the second half.
“Offensively, in the first half, we were really not sloppy, but we didn’t execute well,” Pearl admitted postgame. “Our spacing was really bad, and they did a really good job early of plugging gaps and doing a good job of guarding without fouling at the rim.”
Translation: Auburn wasn’t moving the ball or themselves the way they needed to, and Texas made them pay. The Tigers settled for tough, contested shots, hoping for whistles instead of playing through contact. That’s not the kind of basketball that wins games in the SEC-or against a team like Texas.
At halftime, Pearl’s message was clear: they were lucky to only be down eight.
“Guys, we should be down 20 right now based on how we played offensively and how well they played in the first half,” he told his team. “To only be down eight was huge.”
He pointed to a recent game against Missouri as a cautionary tale. Missouri lit them up from deep in the first half, and Auburn didn’t respond well.
This time, the challenge was similar-Texas hit seven threes in the opening frame, many of them on shots Auburn was willing to live with. But unlike the Missouri game, the Tigers didn’t let it spiral.
The second half was a different story. Auburn came out with a renewed energy, and more importantly, a much sharper offensive approach.
“We did a really good job early in the second half,” Pearl said. “We cut the lead to three.
They then extend it back to eight. We get into a timeout, and we had to figure out if we were going to bend, not break.
And our guys hung in there and just kept chipping away.”
That resilience was the difference. Every time Texas tried to pull away again, Auburn responded. Pearl credited assistant coach Mike Burgomaster with making a key adjustment that opened up the floor.
“Coach Burgomaster did a great job of just putting us in spaces where we can drive those guys, and they wouldn’t be able to help nearly as much,” Pearl said.
That tweak-spacing the floor better to create driving lanes-helped Auburn attack the rim with more purpose and less reliance on the whistle. And it paid off. The Tigers found their rhythm, got stops, and eventually took control of the game.
Now, they turn their attention to Saturday, when they’ll face Tennessee in what will be a special moment for Pearl. It’ll be his first game as a head coach against his alma mater, adding another layer of emotion to an already big matchup.
But if Wednesday night showed us anything, it’s that this Auburn team has the grit to handle adversity-and the coaching to make the right adjustments when it matters most.