AUBURN — The stakes appeared dire, but Steven Pearl 's message to his team was simple. He said he delivered it with a smile.

"This is awesome," he said. "We get to play free basketball. We get to play five more minutes of Auburn basketball ."

The feeling inside Neville Arena was far from that as Pearl spoke to his team before an overtime period against Bethune-Cookman on Monday, Nov. 3, which came to be after a foul at regulation's buzzer allowed the Wildcats sink three game-tying free throws. But Pearl's message resonated in the final period, as the Tigers closed out for a 95-90 victory and got him a victory in his head-coaching debut. CRISIS AVERTED: 7 takeaways from Auburn basketball's OT win vs. Bethune-Cookman in Steven Pearl coaching debut

Pearl described win No. 1 as bi

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