Auburn’s new-look basketball group got its first real look Wednesday night, and Steven Pearl didn’t spend much time softening the edges after an 82-71 exhibition loss to Florida State in the Ballin in Boutwell game.
The biggest issue was clear from the start: Auburn got beat up inside. Florida State freshman Marcis Ponder owned the paint with 13 points and 21 rebounds, a total that topped Auburn’s entire frontcourt by itself. The Seminoles also won the glass 51-40, turning the interior into a problem spot the Tigers couldn’t solve.
Pearl pointed straight at his frontcourt duo, Narcisse Ngoy and Bukky Oboye, and he didn’t hide how he felt about the effort level.
“Yeah, the freshman went out there and had 21 rebounds. Our (frontcourt) got punked,” Pearl said. “I can’t talk about them being difference-makers if they’re not going to play with a different level of intensity.
“I thought Narcisse had some moments. I thought Bukky - Bukky’s obviously got to be better, and he knows that.
We got pushed around. We got punked on the inside, and that film’s out there now, which is great.
Those guys, obviously - we’ve all got to be accountable for it, and we’ve got to make some real steps.”
Auburn did have one bright spot in Tahaad Pettiford, who led all scorers with 20 points. But the Tigers never found much rhythm as a team, finishing at 34% from the floor and 31% from 3-point range.
Kevin Overton added 10 points, but Auburn’s biggest offensive issue came in the form of 18 turnovers and just 14 assists. Pearl said the ball simply wasn’t moving well enough, and he singled out Pettiford and Overton for their combined assist-to-turnover numbers.
“The ball didn’t have life tonight. Tahaad Pettiford and Kevin Overton have two combined assists and seven turnovers.
They’ve got to trust their teammates,” Pearl said. “I can’t sit here and talk about how we built this team around them to bring out their strengths if they’re not going to trust their teammates.
They’ll watch it, we’ll watch it as a team, and they’ll see we took some tough ones.
“I always want those guys to be aggressive offensively because that’s where they’re great. But we’ve got to do a better job of -- the ball has to have life.
That will translate to things happening on the other end. Part of it is those first-game jitters.
Everyone’s going to want to come out here and be aggressive, which I understand. But we’re more of a veteran group.
We’ve got guys who have played a bunch of first games in college. We’ve got to be able to put that aside.
We’ve got a long way to go and we all know that. We’ve got to be accountable, and we’re going to be better for it.”
Auburn’s next preseason test comes against Alabama on Oct. 22.
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