Bruce Pearl still has questions about his team, which is a good thing

Auburn Basketball completed their Israeli Tour on Monday when they faced the Israel National Team, their toughest competition of the slate.

The Tigers played well defensively, forcing 17 turnovers and recording 46 total rebounds, but the Israeli National Team, led by Deni Avdija of the Washington Wizards, were too much to handle. Team Israel shot 9 percent better from the field than Auburn to earn the 95-86 win.

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said in a release that Team Israel had a great defensive strategy in the game.

“What (Israel ran) is really hard to guard. We’re built to guard it, but they have great counters to everything that we tried to do,” Pearl said following the game. “It’s an outstanding coach, an outstanding system of play, really good players. They disrupted us. I’m glad we gave them a run. I’m glad that was a good contest for them. They got exposed in some ways, and I know we did as well.”

Now that the tour is over, Pearl has decisions to make about his players, and how many minutes they spend on the floor.

Auburn played well as a team in Israel, which included stellar defensive play and outstanding freshmen production. Pearl has an issue, but it is the best issue that any coach can have.

“The biggest thing is that we’ve got 12 good basketball players, maybe even 13. We’re going to put a good point guard out there. I can’t tell you whether it’s going to be Wendell Green, Chance Westry, Tre Donaldson or Zep Jasper,” Pearl said. “We’re going to put a good 2 guard out there. I can list you four or five guys. I don’t know who is going to start at the 3 or the 4 or the 5 because they all had their moments out there.”

So, how will Pearl decide who the best five will be at any given moment? He says that he will take every second that he has until the team’s first official game to sort that out. But, the players will also have to keep working hard to earn their roles.

“We’re going to go back for the next two months and we’re going to compete, and the guys that want to be out there are the guys that are going to play the most productively,” Pearl said. “We keep things called a plus-minus chart. How did we play when you were on the floor? If we were better when you were on the floor, then you are going to be on the floor. If we didn’t play better when you were on the floor, I’m going to play somebody else.”

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Auburn will play a preseason exhibition against Alabama-Huntsville on Wednesday, November 2 at Neville Arena to kick off the season. The Tigers’ first official game will take place at Neville Arena on Monday, November 7 against George Mason.