Coach of No. 1 College Basketball Program Sends Strong Message to Fans
Life is good when you are the top-ranked team in men’s college basketball. That team is the No. 1 Auburn Tigers, who are 21-1 under head coach Bruce Pearl. Auburn improved to 10-0 in conference play with a 98-70 win over Oklahoma on Tuesday.
Since the win, Auburn students have been camping outside Neville Arena to get tickets for Saturday’s clash with No. 6 Florida. Florida is a formidable foe, coming into the game at 19-3 and 6-3 in the conference.
Pearl took to social media on Friday and posted a picture of students camping out, calling Auburn an everything school, referring to the school’s success in multiple collegiate sports. “This is what an everything school looks like!”
This is what an everything school looks like! @AuburnU pic.twitter.com/8DLlMTp0KP
— Bruce Pearl (@coachbrucepearl) February 7, 2025
The area outside the venue has since been dubbed “Jungle Village,” which refers to how fans call Auburn’s home arena “The Jungle.”
Pearl has been a head coach since the 2001-2002 season, starting with Milwaukee. Other stops for Pearl include Tennessee before he landed with Auburn ahead of the 2014-2015 season. Pearl has taken Auburn to the NCAA Tournament five times, including one Final Four appearance during the 2018-2019 season.
His overall record as head coach at Auburn is 235-120. Auburn’s one loss this season was to No. 9 Duke by a score of 84-78 in Durham. Duke is now 20-2 heading into Saturday’s matchup against Clemson and is the No. 2 team in the country.
Auburn’s student section has boosted Pearl and his team this season. The Tigers are undefeated at home and have the best effective field goal percentage defense in the country during home games, per barttovik.com.
The Tigers have beaten ranked opponents such as No. 4 Houston, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 12 North Carolina, No. 16 Purdue, and No. 6 Tennessee. Saturday’s showdown between Auburn and Florida tips off at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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