Bruce Pearl opens his Auburn career with a comeback win

AUBURN -- He gave life to the lifeless and hope to the hopeless. Bruce Pearl is exactly the miracle worker Auburn needs.

He waited over three years for this.

Pearl brought a new level of passion and enthusiasm to a beleaguered Auburn basketball program that was among the worst in the sport under his predecessor. After nearly eight months of barnstorming the state to sell his brand of basketball, the conclusion of his three-year NCAA show-cause and months of practice, Pearl's new program defeated his old program, as Auburn came back to beat Milwaukee, 83-73, before an announced crowd of 8,114 at Auburn Arena Friday night.

"I told the guys that to be a champion you cannot focus on the end result, you have to focus on the process," said Pearl, who improved to 19-1 in season openers. "We said that we play this game and we would see if we were good enough to win, and then know that we have to get better. I am concerned that when we will lose it will be difficult on this team because we have lost so much.

"It was important for us to come back and rely on each other. It's a struggle, but we all struggled together."

Trailing 55-43 with 11:09 to go, Auburn went on a 24-6 run to take a 67-61 lead with 4:45 to play.

The comeback was fueled by K.T. Harrell, the SEC's leading returning scorer, who tallied all but two of his 20 points in the second half, including eight during the comeback run.

"I didn't have a good start in the first half but I'm a confident player and I know I can get it going," Harrell said. "Just try to stay aggressive and look for open shots."

The Montgomery native made a pair of free throws to put the Tigers up 59-57 with 6:36 to go, their first lead since 7:42 of the first half, and they never looked back.

"We just couldn't figure out a way to stop it," Milwaukee coach Rob Jeter said. "I think we were stuck on 57 (points) for about four or five minutes. Then we made a flurry there, but needed some stops. Too many trips to the free throw line allowed us never to really catch up."

Harrell, the centerpiece of the first year of Pearl's rebuilding project, got help from graduate student transfers Antoine Mason (19 points) and K.C. Ross Miller (13 points) and junior college transfer Cinmeon Bowers.

"I thought the team showed a lot of character. It starts with upper-classmen," Pearl said. "Character counts in those situations. The guys also got to see that pressure has a cumulative effect on a game. You never know when it is going to rear its ugly head, and you could see in that second half we got a couple of bang-bang turnovers that either kept us in the game or allowed us to take control of the game."

The newcomers brought in by Pearl and his staff accounted for 53 points and 20 rebounds for Auburn, including 18 points and 17 rebounds from Bowers, the most boards for an Auburn player since Rob Chubb had 15 in the season opener in 2012 – a span of 62 games.

"I feel like I have to get every rebound," Bowers said. "I have to. No question."

Akeem Springs scored 21 points, Justin Jordan had 11 and JR Lyle added 10 for Milwaukee.

For a team coming off its worst four-year stretch in 40 years and pieced together in a hurry by a new coaching staff, the Tigers showed mettle in their first game that they rarely, if ever, showed under Tony Barbee's leadership.

"We just got a new mindset," Harrell said. "We want to win – not to say that we didn't want to win last year, but it's just a while new year. We don't focus on last year we're trying to move forward and trying to win games and I thought we did a good job of approaching the game tonight."

Auburn reward its second-largest crowd for a non-conference home game at Auburn Arena with a thrilling comeback, delivering an exclamation point on

"It moves me and I know where our program is going," Pearl said. "(The fans) are a huge part of it. We are going to be in a lot of these nail biters. We are going to be in a lot of these battles. I am just glad the fans got rewarded for their support. They are going to leave here knowing that it was a struggle."

Notes:

Guard Tahj Shamsid-Deen injured his shoulder with 14:51 to go. … Former Auburn pitcher and World Series Champion Tim Hudson was the celebrity letter.