copy/pasta'd from Josh Vitale @ Auburn Opelika News
AUBURN – Bruce Pearl’s Auburn’s men’s basketball team will enter Saturday’s home date with No. 22 Arkansas in the midst of an 11-game win streak — the program’s longest in 18 years. Over the latter part of that stretch, his nine-man rotation has really started to click.
That was especially evident Tuesday, when the Tigers knocked off No. 23 Tennessee, 94-84, to claim their first road win over a ranked team in nearly 11 years. Eight of the nine players who saw the floor scored between six and 18 points, and five finished in double figures.
“I just think they trust each other, they respect each other, they count on each other, they rely on each other, they make each other better,†Pearl said. “They cheer for one another, and it isn’t about any one person getting theirs.â€
Still, Pearl “absolutely†thinks about what he would do should he ever be able to add one or both of Danjel Purifoy and Austin Wiley to that rotation.
The sophomore forward and center have been held out due to concerns about their eligibility since Nov. 2 amidst the university’s internal investigation prompted by former associate head coach Chuck Person being charged with six counts of federal corruption as a result of an FBI probe.
“We’ll put the best players out there,†Pearl said. “That’s what the team would want, and based on matchups and based on where we are.â€
But despite the fact that more than three months have passed and the calendar has flipped from 2017 to 2018 since Person’s Sept. 26 arrest, Pearl said there has been no change to either players’ status.
Purifoy and Wiley are still practicing with the team and are enrolled in classes for the spring semester, which begins Wednesday.
They have not been ruled ineligible, Pearl said, but the school is “still trying to certify their eligibility with the NCAA.â€
Saturday’s game will be Auburn’s 15 th this season, which means both players have already missed nearly half of the team’s 31-game regular-season schedule.
“We’re still in the process of trying to get Austin and Danjel eligible,†Pearl said. “They’re staying ready and we’ll face that when the time comes.â€