“Obviously, I’ve got a history of playing in these games, going back to my days at Tennessee as well as here at Auburn,” Pearl said. “The history behind that is probably more of having been at Iowa and seeing Tom Davis play Northern Iowa at Northern Iowa once in a while, you know? And then having gone to Southern Indiana myself as a Division II program, that was at a time when you could play a D-II in the regular season, but there weren’t any of these preseason opportunities. And I just couldn’t get a game. We were good. Nobody in Indiana would play us. Then, when I went to Milwaukee, I inherited a contract where Wisconsin actually sort of played a 3-for-1. They came to Milwaukee one time when I was there, and I really appreciated that. I just said that whenever I got my opportunity to be a coach at the high-major level, I’m going to do that. That’s sort of what got it started.”
"That’s why we scheduled it, to have that test and have that environment,” Pearl said. “And obviously, what it’ll do is it’ll really elevate the level of Appalachian State’s play. They’re really athletic. Again, they’ve got great size. They’ll be jacked up. And we’ve got to be able to handle their elevated play, and at the same time, not let the environment disrupt our play.”
Noon on ESP2
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"That’s why we scheduled it, to have that test and have that environment,” Pearl said. “And obviously, what it’ll do is it’ll really elevate the level of Appalachian State’s play. They’re really athletic. Again, they’ve got great size. They’ll be jacked up. And we’ve got to be able to handle their elevated play, and at the same time, not let the environment disrupt our play.”
Noon on ESP2
Why is Auburn basketball playing at Appalachian State on Sunday?
Auburn will play Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina, at noon on Sunday.
