Locked On Auburn - Daily Podcast On Auburn Tigers Football & Basketball
REACTION: Auburn Tigers, Steven Pearl BLASTED by Purdue Boilermakers
21 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day.
Another one. Another really tough game. Auburn loses to Purdue.
You are Locked On Auburn. Your daily podcast on the Auburn Tigers. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day.
Oh, man. Yes. Welcome on in to Lockdown Auburn, your daily Auburn Tigers podcast. I'm your host, Zach Blackerby, and thank you so much for making Lockdown Auburn your first listen every single day. Daryl Daprich joining us. I'm Zach Blackerby.
Chapter 2: What were the main highlights of the Auburn vs. Purdue basketball game?
This is Lockdown Auburn reacting to Auburn's 88-60 loss to Purdue. Not quite 30. It could have been whatever number Purdue wanted, though, down the stretch. And so when you couple this... with their performance against Michigan and their performance against Arizona. When Auburn plays elite teams, this is kind of what we need to expect to happen, I guess.
If you have any sort of a post presence, if you have any sort of way to attack the basket or consistently shoot from deep, Auburn's going to have trouble, whether it's leaving guys wide open around the perimeter or not having any sort of post presence defensively. This is what it looks like, Daryl.
Yeah, there's a specific blueprint for teams that are going to give Auburn a ton of problems. It's not a secret. It's not rocket science. First of all, elite teams. I understand getting beat by teams that are probably three of the teams that Auburn got beat. And you could throw in Houston all Final Four caliber teams. Other than Houston, you just didn't show up. I mean, you got blasted.
Now this game, it looked like Auburn was going to keep it close. And then Purdue's bench, I mean, Purdue's bench, give them credit to Harris' kid that came off the bench and hit four threes. You know, the size was a problem, like we thought. If you look statistically, they shot 56%. from the field, which was a lot. Five players scored double digits. Yeah.
And they, I mean, 56% around, around the, you know, from the field is, is really good, but they shot 46% from three. So they, they are, they are the epitome. And then the, the Kaufman Ren guy went off. I mean, he had 18 points and he was unstoppable on the block. Braden Smith is as advertised, only had 11 points, but he did whatever he wanted. He found guys wide open. 14 assists.
Yeah, facilitated, distributed. Auburn gets to the line, what, 16 times, only makes 11, 69%. So, I mean, they actually got their free throw line more than Purdue. The problem is Purdue didn't miss.
Yeah, the thing that's frustrating me most about this team is is I think some of this is fixable. Some of it is this is what the roster is. And we can have discussions on why the roster is this way and all of that. And I really do think that's on Bruce, not on Steven. And there's a lot of people upset with Steven, and that's fine.
And I don't think Steven is perfect by any stretch of the imagination. But I think some of the issues... that are going to hinder Auburn's ceiling, because I think this team has a fairly low ceiling. And we knew that going into the season.
I think it's a little bit lower probably than most of it's expected based off of play so far, because we liked the upside of Tahad, and we liked the upside of Keyshawn, or yeah, Keyshawn Hall, and then maybe another guy could step up. And tonight that was Kevin Overton. He was great offensively.
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Chapter 3: How did Auburn's performance against elite teams affect their strategy?
That's it. That's what you have.
Yeah, I just question how effective he is. I mean, this is a guy who couldn't start at Mississippi State. And then he came over. And I think we brought him over to be a piece. And we're asking him to be the guy. And I don't think that's his fault. To be 100% clear, I think we are asking him to do something that is too much for what he was up to this point.
So what will happen is Auburn has beaten a couple of teams that I feel like will be in the NCAA tournament. They probably will go into conference play 9-4. When you look at the schedule they played, it's not all doom and gloom. They beat St. John's, North Carolina State, two tournament teams, Oregon probably a bubble team. They get blasted by the elite teams.
Houston, they should have won that game, should have won that game. You can't miss 12 free throws and say you shouldn't have won that game. They absolutely could have. So when you look at the totality of it, but what I'm doing is if you break it down and look at and peel back the onion a little bit, I think Auburn will be fine against teams that don't have massive front courts. I really do.
And there are some teams in the SEC – that aren't good offensive rebounding teams, that aren't good around the rim, that are very fast, play transition, play tempo. The problem I see right now, Zach, that's very concerning to me, two things, number one. Number one, Pettiford has not answered the bell. Sorry, I'm going to say it. I don't know what his NIL is.
I understand that – but he has not played up – to the expectations that Auburn expected or needs or what his evaluation is from an NIL standpoint. He's regressed.
When he brings the ball down the floor, he's not the facilitator that I think we expected him to be, which is the most surprising part. I'm fine with you being cold every now and then, but When you are cold, the offense stagnates because you can't move the ball consistently. So it's part of that, and then also his shooting has just not been good.
The second part of this, and they may be connected somehow or they could be related, is that the offense looks like all they try to do is a lot of isolation basketball, a lot of one-on-one, a lot of freelancing, a lot of being stagnant, standing around. And again, a lot of dribble, dribble, dribble, one-on-one stuff.
And that was my concern going into this year with a team that hasn't played together for a while. So Stephen Pearl is going to earn his stripes as a coach by having to get into SEC play and figure out what style, what lineup combinations, because I don't think Pettiford will play against Queens next Monday, nor should he.
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Chapter 4: What specific challenges does Auburn face with their current roster?
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Before we jump into what's next for Auburn and wrap up the show like we always do with the next five games, Steven is getting a lot of blame right now. And Steven, I don't think has been perfect by any stretch, but I would say that I think some of the criticism he's getting is a little overblown. Daryl, would you agree with that or disagree?
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Chapter 5: How effective is Steven Pearl's coaching compared to Bruce Pearl?
I agree. I think he is, he is doing the best with what the roster that he has, whether it's scheme, whether it's starting lineup. I mean, you look at who he runs out there. I agree with the five. He starts, uh, Freeman coming off the bench. Williams-Adams is supposed to give you a little more size, a little more post-presence, which obviously Auburn is lacking, so he starts him.
I don't know how he's managing minutes. Maybe Walker needs to play a little bit more. In a game like that where there were some wide-open threes that Auburn missed, that would probably be the only criticism is I'd have to give Simon Walker some more minutes. You've got to try something. But other than that, I don't know what I would do any differently.
Other than if you're concerned about how he gets the team motivated or how he gets them up or how –
Yeah, and look, his style during the games is very different than his father's. I don't think some Auburn fans like that. I don't mind it. Now, I do think leaving guys open consistently on the defensive side, that's a problem. That's something that needs to get fixed.
They guarded better with Bruce being the head coach, I will say that. I think that if Bruce was the head coach, this record would not look much different. I do believe they would be in games a little bit closer than getting blown out.
Yeah, I don't think you're losing by 28. But I do think... I mean, you're within a one-game difference if Bruce is there. Maybe you beat Houston. But I don't think if Bruce is the head coach that... I don't think you beat Michigan. I don't think you beat Arizona. I don't think you win tonight if Bruce is the head coach. But I do think you're better defensively. And then, you know, I do...
We saw this with Bruce teams, too, where there were stretches where the offense just looked motionless and selfish. But that falls on the head coach for sure, too. So for folks blaming Steven for the roster, I don't think that's right or accurate. Um, I do think blaming him for defensive tendencies or lack of offensive identity.
I think that's for the folks who are just anti Steven, which there's a lot. Um, I think that's the argument you need to make. You need to not make it about the roster.
Well, elite coaches have the potential to elevate the level of play of the teams you're coaching, get the most out of them. And I think that's where Bruce has the advantage over Steven. I should. Because of how long he's coached. I mean, he is a motivator. And I think when you play for somebody like that, you play at a higher level. You elevate your game.
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