Auburn the next challenge for Virginia Tech men's basketball

It is only November, but Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl is already thinking about March.

Auburn will host Virginia Tech at 9:15 p.m. Wednesday as part of the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge.

Pearl figures a good showing by the ACC or the Southeastern Conference in this week’s Challenge games could influence the NCAA tournament selection committee when the panel hands out at-large bids for March Madness.

“The Challenge matters,” Pearl said Tuesday at an Auburn news conference. “It’s great for college basketball and I know it’s really great for the selection committee to determine how many teams from the SEC go and how many teams from the ACC go and who the stronger conferences are. This will be somewhat of an indicator.”

Auburn (4-1) has won four straight since opening with an 88-82 loss to nationally ranked Baylor in South Dakota. The Tigers won the Legends Classic in New York, beating Notre Dame 83-59 and defeating St. Bonaventure 77-60.

The Tigers, who made the NCAA tournament last season, are in the “others receiving votes” category of the Associated Press Top 25 poll. They entered Tuesday at No. 16 in analyst Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency ratings.

But Pearl figures Tech “is probably going to be the most solid defensive team” that his Tigers have played this year.

“I know I have a team that can score,” Pearl said. “Now against Virginia Tech, we’ve got to take care of the ball because they’re just not going to let us get to spots. They’re going to be physical getting through screens. They’ll be in the right spots against our ball-screen stuff.”

While this will be Virginia Tech’s fourth game in seven days, Auburn has been idle since Nov. 21.

“I hope we’re not rusty,” Pearl said. “We can’t afford to be rusty because they’re so sharp.”

The Hokies (5-2) certainly did not look sharp in last weekend’s 84-50 loss to nationally ranked Florida Atlantic in the ESPN Events Invitational title game.

Tech shot just 33.3% from the field in that game, including only 11.8% (2 of 17) from 3-point range. The Hokies missed their first 15 3-point attempts.

But Pearl is still concerned about the Hokies’ outside shooting.

“I knew this summer when we got the match-up that we were going to have our hands full just from a standpoint of a style of play and a team that’s a really, really dangerous team because they’ve got a bunch of guys that can really shoot it,” Pearl said. “We’ve got to do a great job of guarding the 3 ball. We’ve done pretty well with it so far this year.”

Auburn is holding foes to a field-goal percentage of 38% and a 3-point field-goal percentage of 22.4%. Teams are averaging just 4.4 3-point baskets against the Tigers.

“We have a chance to be a pretty good defensive team,” Pearl said.

Foes are committing an average of 13.4 turnovers against Auburn, which is averaging 17.4 points off turnovers. But the Hokies commit an average of just 10.3 turnovers.

“They don’t beat themselves,” Pearl said of the Hokies. “They don’t turn the ball over and we’ve been a team that’s kind of relied on turnovers to create offense for us.”

Pearl, whose team is committing an average of 13 turnovers, does not want his team to waste offensive possessions against the Hokies.

“They don’t shoot it quick,” Pearl said of the Hokies. “They’re going to be patient, so there aren’t going to be that many possessions. We’ve turned it over a little bit too much. Can’t afford any nonforced turnovers because the possessions have got to matter ... against this team.”

Johni Broome, a 6-foot-10, 240-pound post player who made the All-SEC second team last season, averages 15.4 points and 7.6 rebounds for Auburn. Freshman guard Aden Holloway averages 13.2 points.

Tech center Lynn Kidd averages 15.9 points and is shooting 74.5% from the field. Sean Pedulla also averages 15.9 points, while Hunter Cattoor averages 14.7 points.

The availability of Hokies guard MJ Collins, who left the Florida Atlantic game after falling to the floor, will be a game-time decision.

This will be the teams’ first meeting since a December 1999 game in the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico. Tech’s last visit to Auburn came in December 1973.

Mark Berman (540) 981-3125