Everything Steven Pearl said after Auburn's 88-66 win over Illinois State

Top-seeded Auburn punched its ticket to the NIT championship game on Thursday night with a dominant 88-66 win over Illinois State at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Here’s everything Tigers’ head coach Steven Pearl had to say after the victory.

OPENING STATEMENT: “Good performance by our guys. Really cool to have the opportunity to play in Hinkle. You know, they had a tremendous turnout from their fans, and I thought that gave our guys a little extra juice in the building, playing in a road environment almost.

And, you know, they came out and threw the first punch and it helps obviously when guys are knocking down shots early. We got into a bit of a rhythm and we did a good job, early, I thought, of forcing them into turnovers, and we did a great job in the first half of converting those into points.

Last 30 minutes I thought our defense was really solid. We made some mistakes early in the game that allowed them to get some threes up and I thought as the game went on we did a better job. Did a good job in the post. Forced them into 18 turnovers.

Good overall effort. Proud of the guys. Thought they really stepped up tonight. Made, unselfishly, 20 assists. That's something that, you know, whether we share the ball, we're pretty good.

So proud of the guys. Proud of the two guys up here (Tahaad Pettiford and Keyshawn Hall) for really stepping up in a big environment and finding a way to get another win.”

FRONTCOURT EFFORT TO LIMIT CHASE WALKER’S PRODUCTION: “Yeah, we talked about, we've been doing a lot of switches and every time we had an opportunity to switch it was all about full fronting the post and just really trying to make his catches difficult. And I thought we did a good job with our ball pressure on the entry pass.

And then I thought our guards and even our bigs did a really good job fronting the post and making his touches really difficult. He's such a big piece of what they do offensively and, you saw every time they got the ball into the post, a lot of good things happened, whether he scored it, when he got an assist or whether he got the offensive rebound.

We did a good job limiting his touches, and I thought when he did catch it we did a good job with our activity. He had four turnovers in the game. So I thought we were, you know, we bothered him with our ball pressure. We bothered him with our doubling, and I thought our guys did a really good job.

We got him into some trouble, which obviously hindered his minutes, and ultimately allowed us to come through and win the game."

THOUGHTS ON PEARL’S ATTIRE AND HOODED JACKET: “I guess it's fashion, I don't know. That's not what I was told. There is the Pump Party tonight. So maybe I could have snuck out of here and this is a little more casual.

No, I mean, just switching it up. I was doing it for senior night because Keyshawn Hall asked me to dress up for Senior Night, and you know, decided to keep it going. And I think we're 6-2 since the jacket's been available. It's an expensive good luck charm.

But you know, if it helps us win, you know, keep doing it.”

WHAT HE SAW FROM ELYJAH FREEMAN, HIS INJURY STATUS: “Yeah, Elyjah does some things. Early in the first half, I think we missed a layup and he comes out of nowhere and gets a tip dunk. Didn't even see him on that play.

We had a couple coverage mistakes and he just is -- you know, down it to go block a shot. You know, gets crazy rebounds. Like he's got the speed and the athleticism and the explosiveness to do things that a lot of people can't do.

So did a great job with his activity. Obviously had three steals, two assists, no turnovers. He wasn't forcing his offense because his teammates were flowing, which is why he's a winner because he's just so unselfish and he's not going to force the issue to try to get his numbers up.

He's just going to, you know, be aggressive when we need him to be aggressive, and just really happy with his progression as the year's gone on. I feel like he's just playing with a lot more freedom and not thinking as much.

You know, I've got to talk to Clark. He said something about tendonitis. So I've got to talk with Clark and see what happened with his knee, but I think it's more out of an abundance of caution to see if he was okay.”

HOW REWARDING THIS POSTSEASON RUN HAS BEEN: “Yeah, we play in the best league, the deepest league in college basketball. And it's a grind, man. It just is.

And if you look at a lot of those losses, they were one- or two-possession games down the stretch and we just weren't able to finish.

But, you know, our league play got us ready for being able to play in this tournament and has allowed us to find a way to win four straight.

So you know, I'm proud of my guys. I've said it a million times. We took a really difficult situation not getting in on Selection Sunday, and I think we've turned it into a positive. They are playing with a level of joy that is really good for me as a coach to see. Guys that, you know, obviously that can come back.

It's great to see what they may be showing me next year. You know, guys like Sebastian Williams, coming in and knocked down three threes. Filip is continuing to get better each and every day. Tahaad, K-Mag, those guys have really stepped up in their roles as the postseason has gone on. Really, just proud of them because it's just an opportunity to represent themselves but also represent Auburn, and they have done a really good job of that.”

ON 20 TEAM ASSISTS, HOW AUBURN ATTACKED THE DEFENSE: “I think we have done a good job all postseason of really sharing it. You know, they do a really good job of loading in the gas but I think a lot of it came in transition, too. Every time we got a steal, we did a great job, we can do a couple more. Every time we got a steal in transition we threw ahead and made a simple pass, as opposed to dribble, dribble right and make him turn it over.

I thought we did a great job of getting off of it, making easy passes and then finishing around the rim. The halfcourt I thought for the most part we were pretty solid, making inside-out passes and helping one another. Obviously it helps when guys knock down shots making 12 threes. Sebastian and KO combined for eight for eight from three, and you know when you do that, obviously your statistics are going to go up but it was great to see the guys looking for one another.”

IMPORTANCE OF RETAINING KEVIN OVERTON: “I mean, how many threes has he made in the NIT? A lot. Yeah, I mean, pretty important. You know, he's having his best offensive year of his career, and you know, obviously KO is going to be a really important piece coming back next year. So we'd love to have him, and you know, he loves Auburn. Just like a lot of these guys do, and you know, excited to see them have an Auburn uniform on again next year.”