{"id":427365,"date":"2018-02-16T11:51:13","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T17:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/?p=427365"},"modified":"2018-02-16T11:53:18","modified_gmt":"2018-02-16T17:53:18","slug":"listen-auburns-bruce-pearl-and-alabamas-john-pelphrey-on-opening-kickoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/listen-auburns-bruce-pearl-and-alabamas-john-pelphrey-on-opening-kickoff\/","title":{"rendered":"LISTEN: Auburn’s Bruce Pearl and Alabama’s John Pelphrey on Opening Kickoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Scott McInnerney
\nWNSP Reporter<\/p>\n

MOBILE, AL \u2013 Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl and Alabama assistant coach John Pelphrey joined WNSP on the Opening Kickoff this morning to talk college basketball.<\/p>\n

Auburn is leading the SEC in men\u2019s basketball with an 11-2 conference record and 23-3 overall. This season is Pearl\u2019s best as the head coach of Auburn, going from 4-14 in conference during his first year to leading the conference this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re just doing your job,\u201d Pearl said. \u201cSome years the performance and the results are better than others.<\/p>\n

“The thing that I\u2019m really proud about is that Auburn is such a great place, such a great town. It\u2019s amazing how we succeed in men\u2019s and women\u2019s sports across the board, but men\u2019s basketball wasn\u2019t holding up its end, and now we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Auburn is known for playing small-ball but playing with toughness. The team leads the SEC in 3-point shooting percentage, scoring, free-throw percentage, and steals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a great inside attack, so we do rely on the three-ball,\u201d said Pearl. \u201cWhen you are able to put four guys on the perimeter and make the defense cover, it does open up the lane. We\u2019ve got to be able to shoot it in order to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Auburn is ranked No. 10 in the nation in the most recent poll, and they are looking to have strong finish in a tough conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis league, bottom to top, is as good as it\u2019s ever been,\u201d Pearl said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a better league in the country.<\/p>\n

“Vanderbilt is in last place, and they can beat anybody in our league anywhere, home or on the road. We\u2019re just going to take it one game at a time. The way I\u2019ve approached it with this team is that our schedule is going to force us to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alabama basketball and assistant coach John Pelphrey are sitting at fifth place in the SEC. The Crimson Tide has picked up wins on top teams in the conference such as Auburn, Florida, and Tennessee.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn years past, we played some teams that probably couldn\u2019t get us in,\u201d said Pelphrey. \u201cThis year is the reverse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alabama will play three of its last five games on the road, and the final games of the season are against some of the SEC\u2019s top teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a tough week this week,\u201d Pelphrey said. \u201cOur next two games are at Kentucky and at Auburn.<\/p>\n

“If we win, those are very good for our movement up the standings or having a chance to build our resume. We\u2019ve got two home games against Arkansas and Florida, two teams that are going to build our resume and help us move up the standings. Even though it\u2019s really challenging, that\u2019s the way you want it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more, you can listen to the full interviews below and tune in to the Opening Kickoff weekday mornings from 6 to 9 a.m.<\/p>\n

\n

Bruce Pearl:<\/strong><\/p>\n\nhttp:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/BrucePearl02162018.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

John Pelphrey:<\/strong><\/p>\nhttp:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/JohnPelphrey02162018-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott McInnerney WNSP Reporter MOBILE, AL \u2013 Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl and Alabama assistant coach John Pelphrey joined WNSP on the Opening Kickoff […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4489,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,106,33,176],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-427365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-featured-news","7":"category-on-the-air","8":"category-sec","9":"category-top"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427365"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":427372,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427365\/revisions\/427372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wnsp.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}