Pearl’s Defensive Philosophy Has Bennett Roots

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia’s Final Four opponent, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, said Monday that he has never coached a game against his counterpart Tony Bennett, but has been greatly influenced by Bennett’s father.

Pearl said that when he coached at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, that Tony Bennett’s dad, Dick Bennett, was coaching at Stevens Point. Dick Bennett, of course, was a legendary coach at Stevens Point, Green Bay, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, taking the Badgers to the Final Four in 2000.

“Dick is a legend in Wisconsin basketball for sure, all those years, and one of the very first video tapes I ever bought was Dick Bennett’s man-to-man defense,” Pearl said Monday during a teleconference with all Final Four coaches.

“Believe it or not, it was about pressuring the ball at the line, or keeping it in the box, sending everything to the baseline,” Pearl said. “And then many years later, he completely turned that around and created the Pack-Line defense — sending it to the middle, getting into gaps, not extending catches quite as much. It was a complete and total reversal.”

Pearl adopted principles from that first video and noted that in many ways he still keeps some of those strategies.

“I would say Dick Bennett taught me through clinics and tapes, a lot of how we try to guard even still to this day,” the Auburn coach said.

When Pearl was head coach at Evansville, Tony Bennett’s sister, Kathi, was head women’s coach and they became friends and have stayed in touch over the years.

Tony Bennett joked later, after learning that Pearl had learned principles from his father, that he’s teased his dad about helping so many other coaches learn defensive strategy.

“I was like, ‘Why did you have to do these instructional videos back then?’” Tony Bennett chuckled. “Actually, his (father’s) influence on the game — and maybe a lot of people don’t know this — but in the coaching circles, has been huge. My dad has been an open book. He’s so honest. He just wants to help the game because the game’s been so good to him.

“I have said [to his father] before, you don’t have to share everything,” Tony said. “Obviously, people pick and choose, but he absolutely has influenced a lot of people as so many great coaches have. Coach Pearl, I didn’t know that.”

While Pearl is familiar with how Tony Bennett’s dad coached, he is only now becoming familiar with what was passed down to the son.

Pearl said because he and his staff didn’t return to Auburn until late Sunday, hours after the Tigers knocked off rival Kentucky in the region finals, that he had only watched a little bit of Virginia video as of Monday morning.

“I know that just from a standpoint of defensively, they allow just 29 percent shooting from three (one of Auburn’s strengths), they’ve got big guards, and so they’re able to extend enough defensively to challenge shots,” Pearl said.

“You know, we don’t see the ‘Pack-Line’ as much in the SEC as they do in the ACC,” he continued, “so I know it will be a real challenge for us. Sometimes we play against teams that do a lot of switching, take away the three ball, and you’ve just go to find other ways to be able to score.”

Apparently Pearl raised a stir on social media for his sideline antics and facial expressions during Auburn’s win over the Wildcats, something that did not surprise the Tigers’ coach.

“Yeah, come to practice, and that’s exactly what it is, or come watch me before a Division II exhibition game,” Pearl said. “When the clock starts and the game is on, and we’re practicing or playing, that’s who I am.

“The buzzer sounds, and I’m on until it shuts down. But for 40 minutes or however long we’re going to go, it’s going to be intense. It’s going to be the same. My guys don’t see any difference between a big game or small game or game in March, or in this case, it’s going to be April.”

Pearl said his son tells the Auburn players to listen and try not to pay too much attention to how he’s saying things, but rather to listen to what he’s saying.

“So, yeah, I guess I kind of let it all hang out,” Pearl cracked.

While he and his staff may not have had time to examine Virginia up close by the time the Final Four press conference began Monday afternoon, Pearl knew enough about the No. 1 seed Cavaliers’ offense to comment. Normally, opponents are asked about UVA’s defense, which has been one of the nation’s best for the past several years.

This season, Bennett’s offense is second nationally in offensive efficiency.

“I think they’ve got some great balance,” Pearl said. “And they do have a number of guys that can and will shoot the three ball with great percentages. I mean, (Kyle) Guy, and (De’Andre) Hunter, and (Ty) Jerome, those guys will all shoot it and shoot it with pretty good percentages.

Guy, a 6-foot-2 guard and former Indiana high school “Mr. Basketball,” is one of the most prolific 3-point shooters in UVA history. The junior has made 43 percent of his shots from beyond the arc this season (114-267) and averages 15 points per game, but is capable of big scoring nights, like the 25 he had in the overtime win over Purdue in the NCAA South Regional final.

Hunter, a projected NBA lottery pick as a 6-7, redshirt sophomore, has made 43 percent of his 3’s this season (42-99), while Jerome, a 6-5, junior point guard, is shooting 3’s at a 40-percent clip (73-183).

“[Virginia] does a really good job of getting to the free-throw line, and they convert 74 percent,” Pearl added. “They’re an excellent free-throw shooting team.

“They value possessions. Probably the most important thing, they only turn the ball over nine times a game, and we are a defense that kind of relies on being able to turn our opponents over to get some offense out of our defense,” Pearl said.

Virginia ranks fourth nationally in fewest turnovers per game (318 in 36 games), and is sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (500 assists, 318 turnovers) for a 1.57 ratio.

The Cavaliers committed only five turnovers in their 80-75 overtime win over Purdue on Saturday.