Yeah, those are some good quotes from Pearl. I think he's a good coach, but I'm certainly not happy for him in this instance. Look, the thing he and Gottlieb failed to mention, and won't mention, is the ridiculous shots Auburn made in that game and the ridiculously lopsided officiating. Now, I'm not just talking about the banked in 3-pointer, either. I'm talking about the 5 or 6 other threes they made with a hand in their face. Some of those were just absurd! And the officiating, I know, it's not cool to blame officiating, and that's certainly not the only factor here. But, it was a factor. You'd have to be blind not to see it. Auburn didn't foul much at all, according to the officials. Meanwhile, UK couldn't touch an Auburn player.
Now, I will give credit where it's due. Auburn played very hard and they came back from a deficit, and they made those shots. You can't take that away from them.