The Auburn Tigers made basketball history this season, becoming the first team to win a Southeastern Conference championship after losing an exhibition game to Barry University.
On Nov. 2, Barry upset Bruce Pearl's Tigers 100-95 in overtime before what AL.com described as an "unenthused and eventually stunned announced crowd of 6,374" inside Auburn Arena. That day began with Auburn announcing sophomore forward Danjel Purifoy and sophomore center Austin Wiley had been suspended indefinitely due to possible eligibility issues as a result of a federal investigation that also would lead to the dismissal of Tigers assistant coach Chuck Person.
Losing to a Division II program from the greater Miami area only added to a tumultuous time.
"It's all about the process," Pearl recalled this week. "There were some things that we learned about our team that night that we fixed pretty quickly."
Auburn made just three of 20 3-point attempts against Barry, which shouldn't be confused with Division III Berry College near Rome, Ga. The Tigers would go on to lead the SEC in 3-pointers made with 304, and they rebounded from the loss to Barry with a 12-1 mark in nonconference play.
Pearl actually had experienced that scenario before, with his sixth and final Tennessee team falling to Division II Indianapolis, 79-64, in Knoxville on Nov. 8, 2010. The Volunteers responded by winning their first seven games that season and vaulting into the top 10 of the national rankings.
"We won the preseason NIT by upsetting (No. 7) Villanova, and we tied up the SEC/Big East Challenge by winning at (No. 3) Pittsburgh," Pearl said. "That was the last game of the Challenge, so obviously that propelled us to a pretty good season."
Pearl's final Tennessee team lost six of its last nine regular-season games and was routed by Michigan, 75-45, in the first round of the NCAA tournament. He is hoping his fourth Auburn team can finish with more of a flourish, though the Tigers did drop three of their last five games following sophomore forward Anfernee McLemore's season-ending injury at South Carolina on Feb. 17.
Auburn (25-6, 13-5) will open SEC tournament play Friday afternoon against the winner of Thursday's Alabama-Texas A&M game.
"You just take it one game at a time," Pearl said. "We've got a great opportunity here to play on Friday with a chance to get to the semifinals, but both of those teams have beaten us."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.