This one went the way it was supposed to.
In front of a sell-out crowd, Bruce Pearl and the men's basketball team won their first and only exhibition game of the year over West Alabama by a score of 94 to 58
"The first thing that jumps off the stat sheet for me is the attendance," Pearl said. "It was unbelievable. I'm just really, really grateful that we had such a nice night."
Auburn's leading scorer on the night was newcomer Antoine Mason. Last year's second leading national scorer put up 22 points, with senior guard KT Harrell right behind him with 21.
The Tigers pressured West Alabama all night, forcing 29 turnovers. Auburn capitalized on those turnovers, turning them into 36 points.
"I like the fact that we turned them over," Pearl said. "We created tempo which was good, and I thought we gobbled up most of the 50-50 balls."
Offensively, Auburn was less than trigger shy from beyond the arc. All told, the Tigers attempted a staggering 32 3-point shots but made only 11.
"I thought we shared the ball tonight," Pearl said. "I thought the guys played better together. This was one of the better days. I've not been pleased with how we've been practicing. I'm not pleased with the progress.
Pearl added that depth and play under the basket may be problematic for the Tigers as the season goes on.
"We are thin, we are small," Pearl said. "I thought we got pushed around on the inside. I thought we got big boyed, and were going to play much bigger, much more physical teams than that."
Newcomer Cinmeon Bowers proved himself to be valuable asset under the basket, posting a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
"When Cin' made the solid plays, he was really effective," Pearl said. "I let him go coast-to-coast sometimes, and he took advantage of it tonight, and he looked bad in doing it, and I don't want him to look bad. He could also draw the defense, he could also kick it out to some shooters. If he can get some of that under control, I'll keep letting him do it."
The only thing that went wrong for Auburn on the night was an injury to sophomore center Matthew Atewe, who was helped off the court late in the fourth quarter with Auburn up 77-44.
"It's the same leg he broke," Pearl said. "There's a rod in there, so I can't imagine he broke it again, but obviously he felt quite a bit of pain."
Harrell said that he and the rest of the Tigers feel for their injured teammate.
"It's tough," Harrell said. "He's been struggling with that for a little while. But Matt's a strong kid. He'll bounce back and he knows that we all have his back."
Speaking of backs, Pearl had back surgery this week, but Harrell and Mason said that didn't stop him at all.
"He shouldn't have been out there today, he should have just been relaxing," Harrell said. "That's how much he cares about us. He wants us to win, and he wants us to be great, so he's not going to miss out on anything."
"He sent us a text that said 'good news, he got out of the hospital, bad news, he got out of the hospital," Mason said.
The Tigers will open up the regular season next Friday at home against Milwaukee.
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